


It Started With A Forest

by wubwubnparmaham



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Anger Management, BDSM, Bloodplay, Choking, Collars, Dom Harry, Dom Zayn, Dom/sub, Double Penetration, ENDGAME ZOURRY, Full Moon, Hunters, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, Knotting, Light Masochism, M/M, Murder, Near Death Experiences, Pain Kink, Polyamory, Punishment, Sub Louis, Sub Niall, Subspace, Threesome - M/M/M, Tortured Past, Zourry - Freeform, barfight, i seem rather fond of kidnappings, lol have fun idk, lycanthropy, that's hard to explain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-24 07:47:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 75,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8363896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wubwubnparmaham/pseuds/wubwubnparmaham
Summary: The boy didn’t seem to give a damn that he’d just encroached on Louis’ space and bizarrely invaded his personal bubble, but before Louis could try to tell him—more politely this time—to back off, the boy spoke; his deep, rumbling voice shooting through Louis like the engine of an old muscle car. “Any moon gazing recently?”





	1. Recent Moongazing

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to die from alcohol poisoning, take a shot every time you read the word 'superior'.

_“Ana!” Johannah shrieked when she busted in the door of a locked closet, falling against the wall in horror._

_“Take him,” Anastasia begged from the floor, holding a baby Nikita to Johannah before it was too late._

_“Shit,” Norman cursed, taking in the bloodied conditions of their friends and falling to his knees in shame. “Ana, Dmitri…I’m so sorry. We didn’t know, we swear we didn’t—”_

_"We know,” Dmitri chuckled, cutting off with wet and red tinted cough. “To be fair, we didn’t know about you guys either. They got to us a while ago…the silver is in our bloodstream, we’re not gonna make it. We don’t blame you two for what your comrades are doing, don’t ever bear the weight of that guilt, it’s not yours to burden yourself with. Please, will you take Nikita to America?” he asked desperately, wrapping his arms around his shaking wife. “Raise him, teach him to be good, keep him safe.”_

_Johannah dropped all of her weapons and took Nikita, wiping her tears with her sleeve and trying to calm the wailing baby, even though the sounds of battle outside were probably traumatizing._

_“Some hunters you are,” Ana giggled, reaching out to hold Johannah’s hand and speak to her clearly while she still could._

_Johannah shifted Nikita into one arm and took Ana’s chilled hand, nonstop apologizing to the Mother with her eyes._

" _Nikita will be an angry puppy. He is Ashen, and he will have the same urges we all do. Please understand that it’s a choice. We can fight it, and we have fought it, and you need to make sure he knows he can too. Tell him his Mommy and Papa loved him so much, and we’ll always be with him,” she said weakly, taking a last and teary-eyed look at her precious little baby._

" _We’re so sorry,” Norman sobbed, leaning down to plant a kiss on Dmitri’s forehead._

" _It’s okay, please take our Nikita. You need to leave now, we can’t hold out much longer” Dmitri urged, squeezing Norman’s shoulder as a goodbye._

_“We’ll always be with you guys,” Ana whispered, shooing them out of the storage closet they’d hidden in._

_“He’ll bring honour to the Ashen line, I promise. Goodbye,” Johannah whined, getting shoved out by an equally distraught Norman to run down the hallway and up the stairs to get outside, praying to god that none of the hunters saw them escape with an Ashen baby._

_They ran for their lives, and they never stopped running, raising their new son away from all eyes that may seek to harm him, and working hard to give him a perfectly regular life, which they feel they’d been successful at. That is, until he found out what he was..._

 

\---

 

It all started with a forest…but Louis will get to that later.

Louis Tomlinson was a perfectly regular nineteen year old boy. An exemplary student, an obedient son to his wonderful adoptive parents, and a loyal friend to the minuscule amount he had. He never particularly stood out in a good _or_ a bad way, preferring to coast along under the radar.

His attire was as plain as his bagels, and his sex drive was nonexistent. Which isn’t to say he hadn’t ever tried to build romantic relationships with people he’d found decently attractive, but they never led anywhere because he didn’t really want them to. He always felt the suffocating pressure to do things he didn’t want to do, so he tried to steer clear of those kinds of interactions. They were always nerve-racking to get out of, and he was probably always going to be in another state in a few months, so it wouldn't matter anyway.

And in any case, he can admit that the "attractive" people he’s talking about weren’t even that mesmerizing to begin with. Louis has never seen anyone so beautiful that he couldn’t stop gawking at them. Everyone kind of looked the same to him, and he didn’t know why, but it frankly didn’t bother him all that much.

Louis spent a fair portion of his time doing homework for his college courses, and going to football practice. His courses included psychology, philosophy, sociology, cultural anthropology, and a guilty pleasure of theatre. And as far as the footie goes, he was once again average, never being the sole cause for the team to lose or win.

He had actually just started all this college nonsense recently because his parents had decided to move, _once again,_ and he didn’t want to stay in Pennsylvania all by himself, so he went with them to Washington state after he graduated high school, and enrolled himself in the first college he saw.

The only really good friend he’d made so far was a boisterous boy by the name of Stan, and he’s the only person whose dorm Louis had seen the inside of. Louis would have gotten a dorm himself, but he actually really liked living with his parents. Plus, he only lived a few blocks away from the school, so the extra cost really wasn’t necessary.

He’d gotten a part-time job at a Starbucks, and even though he despised coffee, he still enjoyed the day-in day-out of the tranquil environment. He had evening classes, so his work shift was right in-between the two rush hours of the coffee place. Which was indeed a lucky stroke. He hardly gets any large rush of customers to deal with, and he couldn’t have asked for a better work experience.

Work was incidentally his current location, and he was busy cleaning a table in the back when he felt the rush of the outside storm blow in through the opened door. He paid it no mind because he knew his coworker Cameron would be out of the back momentarily, but perhaps he really _should_ have worried about it...

He sensed the presence behind him before he heard anything, but whomever had just come in was suddenly leaning over him and sharing his air, and Louis’ uncommon anger promptly surfaced itself at the sheer nerve of this stranger.

“Ex _cuse_ me—” he began impatiently.

The stranger evidently had no cares for Louis’ physical discomfort, and they leaned impossibly closer to sniff up the side of his neck like an animal. Louis, for the third time in his life, was furious.

“What in the hell are you—”

Louis’ sharp words died on his tongue when he managed to swivel around and come face to face with his harasser. The first thing he noticed was that the boy was easily without question the most beautiful thing Louis had ever seen.

Great, so that’s number one. Number two is the details Louis had missed the first time; the boy had shoulder length brown curly hair, bright green eyes, a devilish smirk that wouldn’t work on anyone but him, and Louis may as well have been half his height.

He also didn’t seem to give a damn that he’d just encroached on Louis’ space and bizarrely invaded his personal bubble, but before Louis could try to tell him—more politely this time—to back off, the boy spoke; his deep, rumbling voice shooting through Louis like the engine of an old muscle car. 

“Any moon gazing recently?”

Louis pushed his glasses higher onto his nose and crossed his arms over his chest, perplexed at how he should respond to such an unconventional question. “Sorry?”

“So, no howling at the moon,” the stranger clarified with a hint of inquiry.

“I…” Louis paused, trying to decipher if there was something wrong with his ears, or with the boy in front of him. “What the fuck kind of question is that?” he asked in annoyance, gathering his rags from the table so he could run and hide as soon as possible.

“My mistake. Have a good day, love,” the stranger said as he flashed a dimple and swiftly exited the building.

 _What the fuck?_ Louis thought in bewilderment. _He didn’t even order anything._

 

\---

 

For the whole rest of Louis’ day, he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was behind him and about to sniff his neck like a creep. The weirdest part was that Louis wasn’t as mad in hindsight as he would have thought he’d be. It had pissed him off to an unfathomable degree in the moment, but looking back, he was just left with mind-boggling curiosity.

Sitting in his psychology class and trying to focus proved to be an impossible combination, and he found himself frequently trying to smell his own neck; bending it at painful angles just to try and find out what had been so interesting. He probably looked like an idiot, but he couldn’t seem to care enough to let this go. He had questions that needed answering.

When his last class was finally over and he’d said his goodbyes to his background noise of acquaintances, Louis set off on his brisk ten minute walk to his house. Remembering the peculiar things the boy in the shop had said, he found himself staring at the moon whether he wanted to or not.

The moon was almost full tonight, probably only two more nights until it would reach its full globe...ness, and the longer Louis looked at it, the more intrigued he became.

Intrigued, because he was nervous. Diving deeper into his emotions, he’d even say he was scared. The grey light it was coating the street in was an eerie, almost foreboding one. Like it was leaving him vulnerable and exposed to the view of imaginary things in the bushes, and he quickly slunk closer to the buildings on the sidewalk so it wasn’t hitting him so directly.

Louis supposed it was just the pretty stranger’s disturbing mentions of the moon, but whatever the cause, Louis dirtied the whole left side of his coat from power-walking against the shop walls all the way back home.

His behavior was preposterous even to him, and the instant he was inside the safety of his home, he took the longest breath of relief he’d ever heard and quietly walked up the stairs to his room so he wouldn’t wake his parents.

He flung his bag off his aching shoulder and tossed it onto the black comforter of his bed, lazily throwing himself down in much the same way. He kicked his shoes off and reached for his charger, but when he sat up, he noticed the beams of moonlight filtering into his room through his blinds, and every anxious feeling he’d had outside came rushing back all at once.

He huffed in exasperation and crossed the room in three large strides, rapidly shutting the blinds and plopping down into his desk chair. He dropped his head onto his arms, dying for a moment’s peace, but he felt goosebumps rise on his skin from the light that was still bleeding through the cracks in the blinds, and it was still a terrible problem.

“Oh, come _on_ ,” he groaned, reaching an arm back and yanking a blanket out from under his duvet, angrily thumb-tacking it above his window to sufficiently block everything out. This time he waited for several moments to make sure that odd and susceptible feeling didn’t return. Susceptible to what, he couldn’t tell you.

He hummed in relief when his nerves were calmed and he finally jumped into bed, plugging his phone in and burying his head under his pillow. _I hate this._

 

~~~

 

Harry took five steps at a time to reach the fourth floor of the pack mansion. The floor where the cool kids hung out, or so they like to think. And alright, when he says mansion, it’s actually just an old hotel building that his pack had bought after it had gone out of business. Harry doesn’t understand why they’d lost the business, because it had a pretty luxurious interior, but anything can happen in this economy.

The Pack had done some work on it to make some of the rooms bigger and add more homelike things that hadn’t been there before, but it was in no way an actual mansion. On the upside, the elevators still worked, so that was snazzy. Although, they were still too slow for Harry, so he always took the stars instead.

He busted door 482 open like every other time he’d come home, and immediately dropped everything he’d had in his arms onto the hopelessly messy floor. Niall and Liam were unsurprisingly playing Fifa on their shared X-box, and Zayn was probably shacked up in his room listening to indie music and spray painting his walls.

To describe the inner workings of his place of living, it’s basically a four roomed gigantic suite that they’d knocked out and added walls to in order to make it the perfect man cave five boys could ever want.

They each had their own separate room if they so desired, but the living room right inside the main door also had two king-sized beds pushed together for when they wanted to sleep together instead…which was admittedly most of the time.

The only downside to their arrangement was that there was still only one bathroom, spacious as it might be, it was still singular. They’d tried to keep the other one, but it cut too much into Zayn’s room, so they’d had to take it all out. You can imagine it got violent sometimes to only have one to share, but they’re all still alive, so they’d clearly found some sort of system to cohabitate efficiently.

“Zayn,” Harry called, hoping his brother didn’t have headphones in, because Harry wasn’t going to wait for him to spill his breaking news. “You too, guys,” he added to Liam and Niall, who grumbled slightly but exited out of their game, turning around and putting their elbows up on the beds Harry was sitting cross-legged on.

Zayn emerged from his room with a paint-covered white shirt and hopped onto the bed expectantly, fiddling with the rings on his fingers. “‘Sup, Harry?”

“I saw a pup today,” Harry announced with a raised eyebrow.

“What!” Liam growled as he stood onto his feet, frantically pacing the room and working himself up. “Harry, we have to tell Jareth. There shouldn’t be any pups for two-hundred miles, this territory is _ours_ , no pack would _dare_. This means _war_ , Harry—”

“Would you calm down?” Harry snapped at his consistently fiery brother. “You can relax, alright? He hasn’t even turned yet.”

Liam halted his panicking and joined Harry on the bed, pulling Niall up when he threw a hopeful hand out. The brothers situated themselves in a circle to speak to each other with ease, and Harry continued.

“Yeah, I don’t think he even has a clue what he is,” Harry hypothesized, leaning back on his hands and watching the gears turn in his brothers’ heads.

“Do you think he’ll turn tomorrow night?” Niall asked in eager interest, getting shushed by Zayn and his head pulled down to lay in the artist’s lap.

“Quiet, Niall,” Liam seconded, patting Niall’s hip comfortingly just in case.

Niall was the lowest-ranking in their little pack within the main one, and they never let him forget it. Even though Niall never got to eat first, and constantly took the brunt of their merciless teasing and roughhousing, Niall was crucial to them, and the blonde knew that.

Dynamics within packs just happened to work on a very regimented social status structure, and Niall knew if he were ever in real need, no matter how much he gets ignored usually, his brothers would die for him without a second thought. He was sweet and got doted on a lot, but he had a bad habit of talking out of turn and doing things before/without asking permission.

Something Harry insisted on training him on every chance they got. Admittedly, sometimes Niall would intentionally act out because his brothers have a tendency of taking it out on him sexually, and he just really didn’t see that as much of a "punishment."

Regardless of Niall’s acceptance of his position in their pack, it was still a lifelong dream to get promoted and have someone else be the scapegoat for once. That was why he was so excited that there was a pup somewhere in town, for if he were to join them, Niall might be free.

For now, he purred against Zayn’s legs and snuggled in closer as he listened to his brothers discuss this unexpected manner between themselves.

“No, not this soon,” Harry guessed with a shrug of his shoulders as an afterthought. “Not that I could tell, anyway. I mean he’s really just a puppy. Hasn’t even been born yet. If he was going to make the change tomorrow night, he would have been really sick today. Plus, he would have been drawn to me the instant I got anywhere near him.”

“How old is he?” Zayn asked, carding his fingers through Niall’s hair while Liam caressed the blonde’s upper thighs.

“Our age. Which is odd. Definitely a late turner,” Harry replied as Liam hummed in consideration.

“Did you get his number?” Liam asked the awkwardly fidgeting Harry.

“Er…no,” Harry mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck and looking off to the side. “I think I might have creeped him out a bit, actually.”

“What? What did you do?” Zayn asked in amusement.

“Well, I kind of scented him in the middle of his table cleaning, and he got really offended. To tell you the truth, I really don’t think asking him for his number would have been entirely wise in that moment. And if I gave him mine, it would probably be in a trash can somewhere by now.”

Liam snorted and slapped a hand to his face. “That’s because you can’t go around smelling normal people, Harry,” he reasoned through a chuckle.

“But he’s _not_ normal people,” Harry argued, wiggling around until he was on his back by Zayn’s legs and wrapping Niall’s arm around himself.

“Yes, but _he_ doesn’t know that,” said Zayn, smoothing a hand over his leader’s forehead.

“What do you think, Niall?” Harry addressed the blonde, nuzzling their noses together in encouragement.

“Is he cute?” Niall asked simply.

Harry didn’t respond with words, but he gave a very slow and obvious smirk to portray his confirmation.

“Nice,” the blonde said softly, closing his eyes and smiling at the potential prospect of a new _and_ cute member.

“So you scared him, and now what? How are we going to find him again?” Liam asked, always the logical one.

“Well, I know where he works. But I wouldn’t even need to know that,” he said, pulling at Zayn’s arm until he was fully on his side and beckoning Liam to pile in as well. “When he’s ready, he’ll come to us.”

The wolves happily got themselves tangled together in a heap of limbs, and Zayn took Harry’s wireless alarm clock from the side table and chucked it at the lamp to break it; albeit turning it off, nevertheless.

“Zayn!” Harry barked into the darkness. “You can not keep fucking doing that. _Especially_ with clocks, but do you understand how many light bulbs I’ve had to buy this month? Cut that shit out, or I swear I will piss all over your art walls.”

Zayn paled and cuddled into Harry for an apology. “Sorry, Harry. I’ll try.”

“Really shouldn’t be that difficult,” Harry muttered, fighting not to accept the apology, but finding it hard with the magnificent snuggles he was receiving.

“Go to sleep, guys,” Liam chuckled, throwing a random comforter over their jumbled selves. “Wait, Harry, did you catch the pup’s name by chance?”

Harry mentally cursed himself for not asking the beauty his name, but he knew he’d see him again someday, and he could just ask then. “No, but we’ll know it eventually. Give it three moons.”

“Is that a bet?” Zayn croaked, already seconds away from sleep.

“Sure,” Harry grunted back, all wolves growing increasingly drowsy, bathed in each other’s comforting warmth and softness.

“Four moons,” Liam whispered.

“Two,” said Niall resolutely.

“Five,” Zayn murmured randomly, lightly snoring as soon as the word left his lips.

“But wait, what’s the bet? Who gets—” Harry trailed off, realizing all of his wolves were sleeping. “Three moons,” he quietly repeated to himself, smiling as he let himself succumb to sleep and dream of the new puppy he would someday have in his arms.


	2. Debate of the Third Moon

Louis woke up from a particularly vicious nightmare, gasping for air and gripping his chest like his heart would fall out if he didn’t. He only had the fleeting memory of being chased in the woods by something until it all slipped out of his mind.

He wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve and fumbled around in the darkness for his phone. He checked his phone and was surprised to find that it was eight in the morning, but upon closer inspection, he realized the darkness was a product of the thick blanket covering his window.

He scoffed at the ridiculous action he'd made, and quickly got out of bed to untack it from the wall. He threw it to the side and opened his blinds, sighing in content from the warm burst of sunshine he received. He still felt the remnants of dread somewhere deep in his mind, but the daylight was like a drug to him, and he stood in front of the window for fifteen minutes until his alarm blared to get his morning run in.

He considered it, but with a physical check to his body, he came to the conclusion that he was just too exhausted to go out. He decided to get as much sleep as he could and jumped back into his bed, turning to lay the opposite way so the sun was directly hitting his face.

 

\---

 

After a tiring day of work and school, Louis was thrust back into panic mode when he began his walk home in the light of the moon. He glared at it and pulled his sunglasses out of his jacket pocket, shoving them on his face in annoyance.

He hadn’t realized at all that he’d veered in a different direction, and it was only when he was halfway through the forest that his town was on the doorstep of that he took a good look around. _What the fuck am I doing here?_ he thought quizzically.

He couldn’t see a damn thing, so he yanked his glasses off and turned in a circle, trying to get his bearings. There was nothing but trees in every which way, and he cursed himself for this unexplainable mix-up he’d gotten himself into.

He froze all of his movements for a moment and listened closely to his surroundings. He could hear the forest’s waterfall nearby, which meant he was around twenty minutes from the street because he’d taken morning runs here before. It was very different in the dark, but if he could just figure out which way the waterfall was in, he’d be able to turn around and retreat in the opposite direction with confidence he’d wind back up on the pavement.

He found he couldn’t locate it yet, so he walked further into the wilderness in search of the whooshing natural music of the waterfall.

This commenced the second point in his journey that he completely zoned out and forgot what he was doing. He could have pinpointed the landmark and got out of here probably ten minutes ago, but for some reason, _apparently_ he’d just kept going.

Now he was behind a large boulder and peeking over the top of it to stare at the waterfall pool and the mysterious boys that were inhabiting it. _Boys?_ he thought in confusion. _Since when were there boys? I didn’t hear any boys._

Louis couldn’t see them very clearly, even in the blinding moonlight, and they were kind of far away…but even with these disadvantages, he could _still_ tell they were all beautiful people. Their hair was somehow pigmented even in the ominous grey hue of the forest, and their skin was pale and glowing.

Louis came to the reasonable conclusion that these boys might not appreciate it if they knew someone was spying on them, so he carefully backed away from the rock to make his guilty leave. He’d obviously found the fall now, so he finally knew where he was, and staying here was utterly pointless.

 _Of course_ his clumsy foot snapped a twig though. He whipped his gaze back to the godlike males, and he was petrified to discover that all of their heads had turned to study his general location. One even appeared to _growl_ in his direction, but another boy threw an arm sideways and punched him in the chest. _Now, that’s ridiculous,_ Louis rationalized. _Growling?_

He didn’t want to find out either way, and decided his best option was to book it as fast as he could and hope he would outrun them if they chose to pursue. He was making all kinds of noise now, but they were never behind him when he checked and he eventually found himself back on the main road, bending in half and gasping for breath.

He straightened and laughed in spite of himself before calmly resuming his walk back home, deciphering if that had actually just happened or not. He was sure those boys had been there, but it all had a very dream-like feel to it, and he just…needed to sleep this off before he lost his mind.

And get away from this god damned moonlight.

 

~~~  


“Was that the puppy?” Liam asked, giving Niall a back massage on the dry rocks that were popping out of the natural pool.

“I think so, yeah,” Harry verified unsurely as he ran back down the hill from checking the area. “Smells the same. The wind was going the opposite way, I guess, or I would have smelled him a long time ago... Have we been speaking of anything obvious? What could he have heard?”

“We’ve been talking about the price of tea in China,” Zayn said, laughing when he was shot with a glare from the unamused Harry.

“I’m serious,” Harry deadpanned.

“Don’t worry, man,” Liam assured, sitting Niall up and helping to remove the blonde’s shirt. “I don’t think he heard anything. Can’t have been there long in any case. Even with the wind against us, someone would have detected him.”

Liam wasn’t paying attention to what he was doing, so as a result, Niall unfortunately got stuck in the shirt as it was coming over his head, and Zayn fell backward into the water from laughing so hard.

“Sorry, Niall,” Liam muttered, righting his wrong and jumping into the water himself.

Harry took Liam’s place on the rock and they all waited for the clouds to break to give them their last gleam of light before the turn. “Well, evidently it won’t be _this_ moon,” the leader noted, leaning back on his hands and closing his eyes. His iconic peaceful position. “I still say it’ll be by three.”

“Now wait just a second,” Niall piped, the wolves thankfully allowing him to speak. “When I said two moons, that’s what I meant. Excluding this one, two more before he turns. You said three. That’s an extra moon.”

“No, I meant on the third moon, he’ll turn.”

“Yeah, but the bet was how many moons until. You’re saying three will pass. I think two will pass. Whether or not you meant what I did, I said it right. Therefore if it ends up being true, I win the bet. You lose.”

“That’s rubbish. Besides, we don’t even know if we’ll be right,” Harry argued petulantly.

“Yeah, what if you all lose?” Zayn supplied, floating on his back in the cold water. “Wait...what the hell are we gonna win, anyway? Did we ever explicitly say?”

“I’ll cross that bridge when I—” Harry cut off when his skin was suddenly assaulted with moonlight. His eyes shot to the luminescent orb and his heart rate skyrocketed as it began to overtake him.

Experienced and mature wolves can postpone the full moon turn for a while until they’re comfortable, but it is always inevitable no matter what they do. And the time had come.

“We’ll talk later,” Zayn gritted through his teeth, his brothers distractedly nodding their heads as their bones started to break.


	3. Time to Run

~Full moon #2~

Once again, Louis was at work when _another_ hypnotizingly beautiful boy strolled into the shop. This stranger didn’t smell him thankfully, but he did have a peculiar look on his face. This boy had dark raven hair and a darker skin tone, but bright hazelish-brown eyes that seemed to change colour every time Louis blinked.

“Plain black coffee, please,” the boy said politely, tossing a five on the counter and leaning down to look at the cake pops. “One of these too,” he added sheepishly.

“Of course. What’s the name on that?” Louis asked when he finally found his words.

“Zayn,” the stranger said, his taunting husky voice almost causing Louis to write ‘amazing’ on the cup instead of ‘Zayn."  _Amazayn,_ Louis mentally giggled.

“Anything else?” Louis asked as a reflex.

 _Just say your number, just say your number, just say your number,_ Zayn internally encouraged himself, but when he opened his mouth, the only thing that came out was, “Nope.” _Shit_.

Louis went to get his coffee made, and Zayn looked over to see Harry standing outside and waving his arms at him like a madman. Zayn shot a desperate glare at his leader and quickly made sure Louis wasn’t looking before frantically shooing his arm at Harry to get out of sight.

Louis caught the last second of the event, but Zayn played it off like there was a hypothetical bug flying around, and he awkwardly coughed into his fist while Louis held the beverage out expectantly. With a last glance to ensure Harry had fled from the glass walls, Zayn smiled apologetically and took the coffee from Louis’ waiting hand.

“Sorry about that,” he rushed sympathetically, quickly power-walking to the door. “Have a nice day!”

Louis was slowly reaching his breaking point of how many weird encounters he could handle, and he sighed against the counter he’d slammed his forehead into. _Pretty people are insane._

 

~~~

 

“Well?” Harry demanded as soon as they were around the side of the building.

“I forgot,” Zayn said guiltily, bringing the cake pop to his mouth to take a bite, but before he could, Harry roughly smacked it out of his hand and sent it flying. “Hey, that was—”

“All we needed was a number, Zayn. You were the only two wolves in the whole damn shop, and you couldn’t even get one fucking number?” Harry growled, grabbing Zayn by his shirt and pulling him in dangerously close. “What were you talking about?”

“He has really pretty eyes,” Zayn defended as an excuse for his distraction. He expertly escaped Harry’s death grip and picked his cake pop back up, quickly sticking the whole thing in his mouth before Harry could assault it again.

“So do I,” Harry shouted incredulously, secretly now insecure about the possibly mediocre beauty of his green irises. “Did you at least get a name?”

“...No,” Zayn nervously admitted around a mouthful of cake pop, squeezing his eyes shut for the potential fist in the face.

“You—what! You couldn’t even look at his fucking name tag? What the hell were you looking at?”

“His _eyes_ ,” Zayn shot back when he swallowed, taking a sip of his coffee and offendedly spitting it back out. “I hate coffee,” he muttered as Harry sunk his shoulders down and slapped his hands over his face.

“We’re hopeless,” he moaned.

“Oh, whatever. You were the one to say he’ll ‘come to us,' so I don’t know why you’re freaking out so bad. The full moon is tonight, and if he’s gonna come, he’s gonna come. Personally, I think he will. I mean, he didn't look so good health-wise. But still, we can’t make him either way, so...” he trailed off with a innocent shrug.

Harry glowered at him, but he knew Zayn was right. With one last peek through the glass at the sculpted profile of their oblivious brother, the two wolves shrugged their shoulders and hopped in the car to drive back to the mansion /hotel/.

 

~~~

 

Louis went to class that evening with his mind full of the coffee shop incidents. He offhandedly wondered if he should just transfer to another shop to stay away from those strange encounters. It was nerve-racking enough to be alone with a customer, but a beautiful one? Two of them?

He was dreamily staring out the window of his overcrowded college classroom, barely listening to the distinctions of conscious and subconscious thought, when he caught movement on the street below.

Straightening up to lean closer and get a better view, Louis discerned it was maybe four boys that were running through the road with their shirts off. _Well, that’s dumb. It’s forty degrees,_ he chided to his own mind, somehow feeling superior about it. He got the bizarre sense that he knew them, but he couldn’t remember ever associating with anyone that ridiculous, so he brushed it aside.

On his way out of the class, Louis passed a giddy looking Stan in the hallways, and the boy immediately invaded Louis’ personal space, trying to goad him into the usual recklessness. “Lou, there’s a party at Steveo’s, you’re coming right? It’s for the football players, of which you _are_ one if you’ve forgotten. Haven’t heard from you lately, what are you doing? You’re gonna make practice tomorrow, right? Come out with us tonight! His house is huge, we’re gonna get so—”

“Stan, I’m sorry, but it’s my cousin’s birthday tonight, and I already promised I’d go out with him. Another time, okay?” Louis said patiently, touching Stan’s shoulder for added effect.

Stan’s face fell but he shrugged his shoulders and grinned anyway. “No problem, Lou. You’ll be there in spirit, yeah? Catch you later!” he called as he ran down the hall. Probably to run all the way through the school, run out to his car, and drive to Steveo’s house at dangerously high speeds.

Louis had no cousin, by the way. There was no ‘birthday party,’ he just didn’t want to feel pressured to be around people. This whole month he’d felt just fine, but now that it was nearing the end again, he started to get that weird trepidation he’d been plagued with around this time last month. So he didn’t particularly want to be all neurotic in front of his basic friends.

He walked home from school and pulled out the convenient umbrella he’d started carrying in his bag to ward off the moonlight. He flapped it open and practically wore it as a hat while he watched his feet taking him home.

Eventually he pushed through the front door of his house, and even though it was ten at night, his parents were still in the process of making dinner. “Guys, you didn’t have to wait for me!” he chided fondly from the hallway.

“Nonsense, Lou,” his Mother contended, pulling him into her arms but quickly taking a step back to look at his face. “Love, you look so pale. And you’re all shaky. Are you okay?” she asked with concern etched on her features.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I promise,” he assured, moving past her to reach the kitchen. The smell of a pot roast invaded his nose and his mouth watered at the thought of meat.

“Hey Lou,” his Father called as he was clearing off the dining room table in the next room, “could you set the silverware out?”

“I’m on it,” he replied, opening the drawer and grabbing ahold of the forks and knives. He yanked his hand back in surprise when the utensils physically shocked him, and he regarded the unsuspecting forks with guarded wariness. He figured it was just an electrical static thing, conducting a current charge that…science...

He shook his tingling hand and scooped up all of the silverware at once, and that is where it got unfortunate. After the second shock passed, it began burning. And when Louis says burning, he means quite literally. There was smoke coming off of his palm, and the pain was intensely searing. He yelped and instantly dropped the fiery metal, panting as it clattered all over the floor.

His Mother burst into the kitchen and just barely caught sight of Louis’ charred palm before he was rushing out of the room in a panic. “Louis?” she asked worriedly. “Louis, where are you going? Are you okay?”

Louis snagged his coat from the rack and flew out the front door with an “I have to do something” thrown over his shoulder, and Johannah clutched her heart as she watched him sprint down the street toward the distant forest.

Louis’ Father had listened to the scene with interest and was standing in the kitchen, staring down at the scattered silverware. Jo creaked the door shut and shuffled back into the kitchen, fixing her gaze on the forks like her contemplative husband. Norman bent down and collected them each one at a time, meeting Jo’s eyes nervously when he was done. “I think he’s turning,” he deduced.

“What? Why now?” she squeaked, running out to the porch to get a look at the moon.

Norman followed out behind her and nodded his head when the pieces came together. “Full moon. And these are silver,” he unnecessarily reminded her, dropping a cold fork in her hand. “You know we only got these to see if it would affect him one day.”

“I thought maybe the change had skipped him. It should have been when he was sixteen, I thought maybe…”

“Jo, he wasn’t around his own species. He wouldn’t have known, so it’s probably normal to turn now. Plus, we’re retired, and we don’t know this area. We could have moved into a huge pack territory without even knowing it...we don't have access to those lists anymore. Why, do you wish he would have turned out to be human?”

“You know I don’t care,” Johannah angrily and defensively argued, “but I wished it for _his_ sake. It was always a hopeless thought, we knew his parents. It’s just that he already feels isolated from most people, this will make it so much worse. And the Russians… He's in danger now! More so than before. Do you think we should go looking and try and tell the pack in town? I’ll bet there is one. Lot of woods out here.”

“Jo, about him being isolated, that’s exactly why I’m _glad_ about this. He’s finally about to figure out _why._ And if there is a pack, he’s gonna find it himself. And that’s gonna cure his loneliness, I promise you. They wouldn't harbor the deeds of the Ashen against him, he's just a puppy. And we have to do our part. We are his chosen godparents. In a fleeting moment, or not, we swore to Anastasia and Dimitri that we’d look after him. We knew it would be difficult. But we need to support him, no matter what.”

“I know, but what if they _do_ hate him?” she asked fearfully.

“We cannot interfere with this. He needs this chance to be with his people. We have to let him figure it out, and if it’s bad, we'll pick up the pieces, and we'll move someplace else.”

“Of course...should we tell him we know?” Jo asked nervously, not sure if Louis would appreciate them hiding something so essential.

“At some point. Not straight away, puppies are volatile… Besides, where would we even start? We have to figure out what we're gonna tell him, and what needs to stay buried. Shifty business...we'll play it by ear,” he decided, walking back inside and noisily dumping the silverware into the sink. He pulled the now done potroast out of the oven and set it on the table, looking at Jo expectantly when she came back into the house.

“Are you serious? I can’t eat right now,” she scolded, practically falling into her chair.

“This isn’t a tragedy, Johannah. He’ll be alright. He already knows where he needs to go, apparently. When he's strong enough, if the pack accepts him, he'll be well protected from our former allies. Plus, they haven't found us yet. We have time,” Norman argued, getting portions of everything and pushing a plate in front of his wife. “Just eat it, Jo.”

 

~~~

 

Louis instantly regretted running out without his umbrella, but it was far too late to go back now. He reached the outskirts of the forest and dove into it, following his heart back to the waterfall he’d been in front of a month ago. Why he needed to go there, he didn’t comprehend, but he was intelligent enough to realize that he’d most likely find out why.

He reached that same rock with trembling limbs, pulling himself over it to peer down at the pool, and he was surprised to see the same four boys that he’d witnessed last time. It came to him that without their shirts, that they may actually be the four boys he’d seen running down the street in class.

He still couldn’t see them very well from where he was, so he quietly walked down the hill, stopping from tree to tree and making sure he hadn’t been discovered. He could hear their voices, and he wanted to be closer to the sound. It just felt familiar for some reason. Homelike.

Louis’ heart was thumping in his chest, and he soon broke out into a shaky sweat that covered his entire body. His breathing was getting so laboured, and he didn’t know what was causing it, but it felt suspiciously like what an anxiety attack sounds like.

Louis stayed that way, completely suffering inside his mind and body, and he cried out when he endured an amazingly excruciating spasm in his spine.

The boys on the rocks instantly quieted down, and they cocked their heads as if paying close attention to something they couldn’t yet see. One began to sniff the air in search of the pained exclamation, and the pull Louis was experiencing to be with them became unignorable; so even though he felt close to fainting, he found himself wobbly stumbling through the break in the trees and calling out for them.

“Help,” he wailed in desperation, hoping his voice was loud enough over the beating of the waterfall.

The boys’ heads thankfully snapped to him, and they all hopped across the rocks to reach him before he fell. As soon as one of the boys was close enough, Louis gave up his fight with gravity and tumbled right into his strong and tattooed arms.

“Shit, he’s turning now,” the boy called to his friends, who shortly arrived and helped Louis onto his back, setting his head on the lap of the boy who had caught him first.

Louis couldn’t help his frantic gasps for air, and a near constant whine was spilling out of his throat. “What’s happening to me?” he cried helplessly while the other boys crowded around him and began rubbing at his skin.

“What’s your name, sweetie?” asked the boy hovering over him.

Louis gathered the strength to tilt his head back in the lap he was laying in and look up at the mystery boy’s face. Somewhere deep in his mind, he realized this was the first boy from the coffee shop, but there was no time for thoughts like that. “Louis,” he grunted, holding back a scream.

“Okay, Louis. My name is Harry. This is Zayn, Niall, and Liam,” he informed calmly, pointing to the rest of the boys. “We’re going to help you, okay? You’re gonna be fine, Louis, you’re just changing.”

Louis looked to the fellow lads around his body, and again offhandedly realized the second boy from the shop was also there, but he ignored it all the same. The scream that he’d been holding back ripped out of him then, and his back arched all the way off the ground in agony.

“Get his clothes off,” Harry ordered.

“There’s no time,” Niall argued, struggling to hold Louis’ legs down.

“He’s gonna tear them, and he won’t like that very much in the morning.”

“What are you—talking about?” Louis panted, contorting his body to try and twist away from the pain.

Harry said nothing, but easily slipped Louis’ shirt over his head because his arms had been stretched out behind Harry’s hips.

“What are you doing to me?” Louis demanded fearfully.

“We’re not raping you, if that’s what you think. Hold still,” Harry commanded as Zayn and Liam got Louis’ trousers off, and Niall got his shoes and socks off.

Now Louis was laying on the forest floor in nothing but his boxers and anger, and he was surrounded by four glorious and good-smelling boys who swore they wouldn’t rape him, but certainly didn’t mind ripping his clothes off, either.

“Wha—” Louis’ sentence cut off by another throat-tearing scream, and Harry held him closer.

“Listen to me,” Harry said lowly in his ear, “I know it may sound crazy to you because you’ve obviously lived your life as a human, but we don’t have time for your doubt. You’re not a human. I knew that the first moment I smelled you. You’re one of us, and you’re becoming all of what we are right now, if that makes even a speck of sense. That’s what the pain is. There’s something inside your soul trying to get out, and you have to let it, or it’s gonna be so much worse for you.”

“What! Not a human…that’s impossible!” Louis screeched, gripping Harry’s hands that were rubbing his chest to ground himself to something.

“No, Louis. It’s very possible. We look human, but we’re not.”

“What are you?” Louis shakily asked, crying out in anguish and writhing against the hands that held him. He was absolutely terrified of these boys now, but so comforted at the same time... It sucked.

“Niall,” Harry called, the blonde getting the point and standing up to show Louis what he needed to see. He dropped his pants and kicked them away, stretching and hopping from one foot to the other, anxious to set his wolf free.

Harry pulled Louis further into a sitting position, and Liam put Louis’ legs on his lap to give him as much cover from the sharp dry leaves as possible.

“Look at Niall, love,” Harry said softly, physically moving Louis’ head toward the heavily breathing blonde boy. “He’s gonna show you.”

Louis watched with rapt attention, gasping and shrieking when the boy himself cracked and broke as he sprouted a thick coat of white fur, and fell down from his two legs onto four, suddenly in the form of a large and beautiful snow wolf.

“What the fuck was that! What just happened!” Louis shouted, struggling against Harry’s arms, who only held him tighter in response. Louis could hardly believe his eyes, but he knew internally that this was really nothing to question, and he relaxed as much as he could against the warm tattooed chest behind him.

“We’re lycans, Louis,” Harry informed the petrified puppy, nuzzling his nose into his light brown hair. “It was a scary time for all of us. Being a first-turner is never fun, we get it, but you need to let it go. Just relax and let it happen.”

“Let it—but I can’t!” Louis contested, eyes wide and staring warily at the large white wolf that was laying on its stomach and blinking at him with pretty golden eyes. Niall, if it was indeed Niall, inched forward on his tummy until he got to Louis’ hand, and he licked at it affectionately. “Is this real?” Louis squeaked, yanking his hand back and wiping the spit off in annoyance.

“Yeah, babes. This is real,” Zayn voiced from Louis’ left.

Louis turned to look at him and powerfully grabbed onto his forearm. “What did you do to me?” he asked frantically, figuring maybe one of these two boys did something at the shop to make him like this.

The pain became too much to bear again and he yelped in despair, letting go of Zayn and squeezing his eyes shut, pushing himself further up against Harry. “Make it stop,” he whined as he looked up into the first boy’s warm and inviting green eyes.

“It will stop when you let it, Louis. We didn’t do anything to you, you have lycan blood. You were born like this. What are your parents like?” Harry asked as he rubbed at Louis’ shoulders and arms.

“I’m adopted,” Louis gritted through his teeth, realizing that may count for something.

“Alright, that makes more sense then,” Liam remarked, massaging the wolf’s legs to help in any miniscule way he could. This was going to be brutal if the puppy kept resisting.

“If only the clouds would break. He needs the moonlight right now more than anything,” Zayn muttered, glaring at the clouded sky with all his might.

“It’ll come. But Louis, you need to be ready. You have to awaken yourself, because this will be inevitable either way. You can fight it all you want, but it will be so much worse in the long run if you do. Please believe us. You becoming one with your wolf is a _much_ better experience than it forcing its way out. We’ve all learned that the hard way,” Harry said as Louis began to sob from frustration and unadulterated terror. Add torturous pain in there somewhere as well...

“You have to help me,” the puppy whined, valiantly trying to evoke some kind of nonexistent courage hiding within himself.

“Liam, do it slowly,” Harry suggested, the brown-eyed boy groaning but backing up to show Louis how it’s done.

Louis watched in amazement at every step Liam took to transform himself into a wolf, completely horrified but utterly fascinated at the same time. “There’s no fucking way,” he screeched, feeling his ribs start to pull away from each other, and screaming out horrifically.

“Harry, the clouds are about to break,” Zayn informed loudly over the cries of pain.

Harry motioned for Zayn to move out of the way and hoisted Louis back up between his legs, tilting his head up to the sky and waiting for the clouds to finally part. “Louis, you’ve gotta let this happen. Don’t be scared, you’re gonna be okay.”

Louis’ breathing was composed of ragged gasps, and as soon as he was hit with the full moon, he shut his eyes and tried desperately to shield himself in Harry’s chest. Harry didn’t let that happen though, and he forced Louis’ head back toward the moon, kissing him on the cheek and whispering into his ear. “Open your eyes.”

Louis wanted to do nothing of the sort, but he did it anyway because it was harder than you may think to deny that voice of its commands. As soon as he stared directly at the awful space rock, his laboured breathing stopped entirely, and he froze on the spot. He felt a strange, almost genetic reaction in his body and soul, and he wanted to accept it, but his mind was kicking and screaming against the sensation.

Zayn watched Louis’ face relax as his hypnotized pupils dilated to black orbs from the moonlight, and he winked at Harry to confirm that it worked. The dastardly moon definitely had its unshakable hold on him, and now all he needed was a tiny bit more encouragement.

“Come alive,” Harry whispered into his ear as he ran his hands up and down the puppy’s tensed arms.

Harry was relieved when Louis’ eyes rolled back into his head and he fell limp against him. This _technically_ meant he’d just died, but Louis and his wolf were just currently meeting and trying to converge into a singular being, and that sometimes took a little bit of time. Especially for a first turner. The two would need to become one in his spirit before he could progress, and Louis didn’t have much of a choice, so the wolves around him just had to wait until it happened.

Harry pulled the puppy all the way into his lap to hold him like a baby, and he brushed the hair off his sweaty forehead. “He’s so beautiful,” he noted reverently, Zayn nodding and massaging Louis’ lifeless hand.

“Yeah, he is… Is his heart beating yet?” Zayn asked, humming when Harry checked the puppy’s pulse and shook his head.

 

\---

 

They waited patiently for fifteen minutes until tiny signs of life, such as finger twitching, started to pour back into their new brother, and Harry joyfully squealed when the puppy’s chest began to rise and fall.

 _How long do you think until he wakes up?_ Liam asked into their minds.

Harry pursed his lips in thought and gazed down at the resurrected sleeping beauty, lowering his ear to listen to his breathing pattern. “I can hear his wolf’s breaths. Low rumble, but it’s there. I’d give it about...five more minutes,” he estimated.

“Should I shift?” Zayn asked.

“No,” Harry negated, “the more human forms he sees when he wakes up, the better. Half and half is perfect.”

“No problem… God, look at his eyelashes,” Zayn breathed in awe, leaning in to get a closer look.

“His _cheekbones_ ,” Harry praised, running his nose down the expanse of one.

“His _scent_ ,” Zayn moaned, backing up when Harry shot him a possessive glare.

A growl released from Louis’ throat and Harry preened, peppering the new wolf’s face with kisses. “Shit, that was fast. He’s waking up,” he exclaimed with a proud grin.

Harry could see Louis’ eyes moving under his eyelids and he shook him a bit to speed up the process. “Louis? Can you hear me?”

Louis slowly opened his eyes and the other wolves were shocked stupid when the colour was the same as it had been before. They were the same ocean blue as his human’s had been, only brighter.

Wolves don’t have blue eyes. There has only been one clan in history to have blue eyes, and Harry was speechless when he made the connection. If Louis was a member of the Ashen clan, he was without a doubt the only one left alive…

The second Louis’ eyes opened, he took in a starved and shuddered breath, exhaling with a growl and rolling out of Harry’s lap, squirming on the ground as the change overtook him.

If Louis could equate the shift to anything, it would be a bunch of sledgehammers pounding down on every square inch of his skeleton, breaking everything into tiny pieces, and then breaking those pieces as well.

He tried to scream, but every sound he made came out like a roar, and he couldn’t push his voice past this new throat he was developing. He squeezed his eyes shut as his face began morphing, enduring unspeakable torture everywhere until suddenly, it was over.

He was laying on his side, whining pitifully, and no matter how much he tried to speak, he couldn’t. He opened his eyes to see Harry’s face smiling down at him, but the boy had lost his colour. Looking around, Louis discerned that everything had lost its colour. He was perceiving the word through an old camera lense, and the broken leaves he was on were somehow comfortable. Not too bad so far.

Until he got a good look at his hands. He yelped when he saw gigantic paws instead, and he tried to sit up, but his hips didn’t bend like that anymore, and he admittedly didn’t know how to move from his position.

“Oh, Louis, it’s okay. You’ll learn, don’t worry,” Harry soothed, giving long pats down Louis’ furry side.

Louis huffed and tried to speak again, but the only thing he could say was "oowowow" and that certainly wasn’t ruddy helping, so he growled and dropped his head back onto the forest floor.

There would be a time to freak out and panic over the fact that he seemed to be an actual dog, but now was not that time. Right now he had to figure _how_ to be one, he could scream and cry about it later.

He gathered his motivation and attempted to stand, trying to remember how dogs did it. He’s seen it plenty of times, but as you can imagine, he never documented the movements. Funnily enough, he didn’t think he’d ever need to know how.

 _Should you help him up, Harry?_ Niall asked from his spot up against Liam.

Louis didn’t think twice about the question because he concurred with the concept, but he suddenly registered that he’d just heard Niall in his head. Niall was a wolf…and he’d just said something. In Louis’ _head_.

 _What the fuck_ , Louis thought.

 _What?_ Niall responded. _How else do you think we communicate on the full moon?_

Louis went to gasp, but he couldn’t do that either, and a bunch of unceremonious choking and coughing noises came out instead. _Can you hear me?_ he tried unsurely.

“Yeah, we can hear you, Louis,” Harry replied, scratching between Louis’ ears which…yeah, Louis can admit felt amazing. “And I’ll help you up. You wanna sit up, right?”

Louis nodded his head and flailed his limbs, trying one last time to do it himself but failing miserably.

“Settle down, pup. Here we go,” Harry said as he hoisted Louis up onto his butt, moving his front arms to the right place so he could balance himself.

It felt entirely foreign, but also strangely natural, and Louis went a step further to straighten his back legs so he could stand. Unfortunately he went full bambi and crashed back down on his side after five seconds of ridiculous leg wobbling, ignoring the chorus of laughter that was filtering into his mind.

“Just ground, puppy. It’s not ice skating,” Harry teased, expertly shifting to his wolf so Louis would have no choice but to figure it out for himself. Zayn followed suit and then there were four wolves staring down at him expectantly.

Louis hated pressure and expectations, so he tried to meet them to avoid feeling like a failure, but he dare say he deserves a bit of slack at this point, having just switched species on a random chilly Monday night. Although, he supposes it wasn’t that random. If lycans were real, which clearly they were, it was that damn full moon.

The moon that’s been haunting him for two months straight. _Are you sure this is real?_ he thought, hoping someone would pick up on it again.

 _Yes, it’s real,_ Harry assured. _Now, you gotta get up, ‘cuz we’re going for a run, and we wouldn’t ever leave you behind, but we’re not waiting all night either._

 _Fine, you assholes. You just watch me,_ he sassed, gathering all his strength and letting a little bit of the inner wolf guide the way. It became easy then, and he found himself standing proudly, unintentionally wagging his tail.

 _There we go_ , Harry praised, all the wolves coming up to Louis and butting their heads together.

 _Take a few steps. Get used to it,_ Liam instructed, walking slowly to demonstrate.

Zayn and Harry expected a lot more falling, but to their surprise, Louis did completely fine. He even made a confident show of hopping around and sniffing at the ground fervently, obviously overwhelmed with his newly heightened senses.

 _Makes sense,_ Harry thought to his own mind only. _If I’m right about his origin, he’s gonna become more powerful than we’ll ever be._

 _Now what?_ Louis asked enthusiastically, running in dizzying circles and causing a scene.

Harry and his brothers all shared a look that was one species away from smirking, and took off as fast as they could go, challenging Louis to do the same.

Harry looked back once to see Louis begin to follow them, letting out a howl that was chorused by everyone else, and shooting through the dense trees to arrive at their favourite vantage point in the whole forest.

_We run._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been so busy writing like three fics haha, and I really hope that this one is entertaining, I've got good things coming. Love you guys for those that are back.


	4. Helpful Explanations

In the early hours of the next morning, Louis awoke in a pile of naked boys. Not that he hasn’t vaguely imagined something of the sort before, but it was a bit shocking in practice. Louis always knew he was gay, in case he forgot to mention, but there were never any outstanding boys that he’d wanted to test it out on…but these boys…they were incredible.

He lifted his head just enough to look around at their entanglement and found that he was smack dab in the middle, surrounded by warm skin and tickling breaths. He was wrapped up in Harry’s arms on his left, the curly-haired wonder tucked into his neck and covering his legs with one of his own.

If Louis was the letter ‘T,’ then Liam was the top part, his stomach serving as Louis’ pillow, with one of his legs thrown over Harry’s shoulder.

Moving on down the line, Zayn was on his right with his forehead touching Liam’s, one arm bent so that his hand was lightly brushing Louis’ shoulder, and the other wrapped around Niall’s upper back. Said blonde was further down between Zayn and Louis’ legs, and he was cuddling into Louis’ stomach with an arm hanging over Harry’s hip.

So, quite literally a pile of naked boys.

Louis couldn’t remember any of the details that happened after that god awful transformation he went through. The only reminders he had were incredibly sore joints and muscles, and a hangover-like feeling in his mind. His arse was really sore as well, and he nervously theorized what _that_ could mean.

The heat the boys were radiating from their skin soon became unbearable, and Louis squirmed to get out from under them. Almost instantly, they rolled over and stirred from their sleep, stretching and yawning themselves awake. Louis stayed still as it was happening, gasping when Harry’s face suddenly appeared hovering inches above his.

“Good morning,” the green-eyed specimen mumbled as he lowered to lightly press his lips against Louis’.

Louis let himself have the moment so he could really seal his first kiss in his memory. Once he was satisfied, he squeaked and shoved against Harry’s chest, scrambling to sit up and back away.

“What’s wrong?” Niall asked with a sad frown on his face.

Zayn pet Niall’s hair and began rutting his hips against the blonde. “He probably doesn’t remember,” he guessed, smiling when Niall moaned in pleasure and scooted up so Zayn could connect them.

Louis’ mouth dropped open at the literal sex he was about to witness, and he stood up to scurry out of the cave, marveling at the wall of water from the fall and letting it soothe his nerves. He was still wildly uncomfortable, but it was breathtakingly beautiful here, he so tried to make the most of it.

Harry walked out as he stretched his arms above his head, bringing his hands down to light a cigarette that had been hanging out of his mouth. Louis wrinkled his nose and reached for it tentatively.

“What, you want this?” Harry asked, raising one magnificent eyebrow.

Louis nodded and snatched it out of his hand, taking a huge drag and hacking out his lungs directly afterward. Harry quickly took the stoge back before Louis could drop it, and chuckled at his boy’s bent over form as he ripped his throat apart from coughing so hard.

“What the hell was that?” Harry asked in amusement. “Oh, I think I know. After last night you think you can do anything now, is that right?”

“I guess.”

“That’ll pass. Although, you are stronger than you were before. I'm sure I don't need to remind you that you're not wearing your glasses anymore,” he said, chuckling when Louis’ hand flew up to his face in shock. “Maybe I did need to remind you.”

“I can see!” Louis declared, looking around at everything in awe. “Really well, damn.”

“Mmhm. And if you had asthma, you won't need your inhaler anymore.”

“Don’t have asthma…apparently, I’m still never smoking, though,” Louis mentioned, clearing his throat again.

“Takes a while to get used to,” Harry informed, taking another drag.

“Then why do you do it?” Louis asked.

“Because I can. And I don't have to worry about dying from it.”

Louis shrugged and wrapped his arms around himself, turning sideways to give his body some private dignity. “I wouldn't wanna get used to it.”

“That’s a good thing, you idiot. Don’t start. It still costs money,” Harry mumbled, keeping the stoge in his lips while he tied his hair up with a band.

“Where did you even get it?”

“My pants?” Harry responded in confusion, not sure if that was what Louis was referring to.

“You kept your clothes?” Louis asked with wide eyes, wanting nothing more than his clothing.

“Yeah, no shit. You think we waltz back into town like this?” Harry teased condescendingly, holding up a hand for Louis to stay put as he went and fetched the puppy’s clothes.

He came back out with the desired articles, sporting a large and new hickey on his neck, and Louis pointed to it dumbly. “What in the…you were gone for five seconds!”

Harry poked at his neck and winced, tossing Louis’ clothes to him and finally taking another drag. “Liam is quick,” he explained, leaning back against the rock wall and closing his eyes because he knew Louis was a nervous and shy little pup.

Louis internally appreciated the gesture, and he got dressed as fast as he could, blushing beet red from all the moaning that kept filtering out into the water hallway. If he could indeed call it a water hallway. One side was rock, and the other was water. Close enough.

“Why are they having sex?” Louis asked unsurely with a tiny undertone of exasperation in his voice.

“Mating, Louis. Sex is for humans… You really _don’t_ remember last night, do you?” Harry asked, smirking when Louis’ blush turned almost purple.

“What do you mean?”

“I fucked you last night, Louis,” Harry bluntly announced, every muscle in Louis’ body freezing from the unexpected claim.

“You did not,” he negated, suddenly realizing how sore his ass was and dropping his mouth open in disbelief.

“Mmhm. You were rutting all over me, I couldn’t help myself. You seemed to enjoy it, but I’m sorry I let it happen. I wasn’t thinking about how pups don’t remember much of their first turns. You can hit me, or whatever,” he coolly suggested, tilting his head up and blowing smoke rings out of his mouth.

“But I’ve never…” Louis trailed, hating admitting such an embarrassing thing in today’s society.

Harry picked up on the hesitation and pushed himself off the wall, coming to stand in front of Louis and lift his chin up, meeting his eyes intensely. “Were you a virgin, Louis?” he breathed in shock.

“... Yeah,” Louis grudgingly verified.

“Holy shit,” Harry unceremoniously remarked, throwing his stoge down and putting it out with his foot, taking Louis into his arms and smoothing his large hands down the pup’s back. “I wouldn’t have figured. But now that I think about it, I really should have. You were packless, I can’t believe I forgot something like that. Of course you never would have mated with anyone, I just wasn’t thinking. I’ve never heard of a lycan losing their virginity as a wolf either. Well—it’s happened, I’m sure—but nobody I know. Fuck, I wouldn’t have taken such a meaningful thing from you if I’d realized I was to be your first. I don’t deserve you in that way yet.”

“Harry, I don’t care.”

“You what?” Harry asked, pulling back to bend down to eye level, holding Louis’ shoulders and rubbing his thumbs against them. “You don’t?”

“Not as much as I thought I would have. I never really gave much thought to how I would lose my virginity, because nobody ever interested me, so—”

“Of course you didn’t, Lou. Nobody was your species,” Harry interrupted, walking them backward and sitting down against the wall, pulling Louis into his chest. “Us wolves have never given those kind of things much thought. Because we grew up with our people. It’s hard for us to imagine what it’s like to be a stray. You must have been so lonely, but it’s only because you didn’t have any other wolves around.”

“So I’m just not attracted to humans?” Louis asked, getting excited that maybe he’s not as defective as he thought.

“I would hope not. Nobody fucks humans. At least no one with any taste. The idea is pretty gross, to be honest,” Harry muttered, shuddering when he imagined mating with a basic human.

“But they look like we do,” Louis argued, tilting his head up to look into Harry’s big green eyes.

“Ah, at first glance. But they don’t smell like us, do they? You’ll see what I mean when you’re around them again. They won’t smell like I do, and it will be a problem… Tell me, are you attracted to me? My body, my face, my scent? Go ahead, take it all in,” Harry suggested, closing his eyes expectantly so Louis could study him.

Louis didn’t have to though, and slapped him in the arm so he would wipe that smirk off his face. “Of course you’re attractive. You and the boys inside that cave are the most beautiful creatures I’ve ever laid my eyes on.”

Harry grinned and nuzzled their noses together, pulling the puppy back under his arms. “You’re sweet, Lou. We certainly like to act like Gods, but we’re pretty average wolves in the grand scheme of things.”

“I find that hard to believe,” Louis protested, slowly creeping his hand over to rest on Harry’s thigh.

“We’re just five wolves in the pack, Louis.”

“What? There’s more of you?” Louis asked incredulously.

“Of course there are. This town is full of us.”

“... Are you serious?”

“My pack has been here for sixty years. You’ve probably seen some before you were born and just didn’t realize the connection you shared,” Harry informed, planting a kiss on Louis’ temple.

“Before I was born?” Louis asked as he furrowed his eyebrows and tilted away just enough to fully see Harry’s face.

“Yeah. I mean obviously you were already alive, but dying and turning for the first time is considered being born in a way.”

“Dying?! Wait, no. You know what? I don't wanna know… I never would have guessed there were more wolves here,” he noted, trying to remember any times where he could have come across any, and pointedly ignoring the death comment.

“Well, yeah. We don’t exactly tell anyone, so you wouldn’t have known. But of course I’m telling you now because you share my blood.”

Louis jolted and his mouth dropped open in shock once again. “We’re related?” he asked in a high-pitched squeak.

Harry laughed at the outburst and shook his head, carding his fingers through Louis’ hair and urging him to come back into the embrace. “I guess you wouldn’t know the legend,” he mused as Louis scooted even further away but had a look of keen interest on his face.

“Tell me,” he said hopefully.

Harry sat up straighter and was about to speak before he stood and began to walk back inside. “One second,” he called, disappearing into the dark and coming back out with his pack of cigarettes.

He was still naked, and Louis was starting to care less and less about it. The wolf sat down and lit the stoge, now apparently ready to share the secrets of their kind.

“So the story goes, there was a woman named Akeldama and her husband Aischylos. Yeah, I know. Greek names. So anyway, Aischylos was cursed by a trickster witch bitch whatever—”

“I can tell you’re going to be rubbish at telling this story,” Louis interrupted, giggling at Harry’s indignant expression. “Sorry, please continue.”

“ _As I was saying,_ the witch was called Kakó, and she was wildly jealous of Akeldama’s timeless beauty and grace. I think she was in love with Aischylos as well, but I don’t remember exactly why she did what she did,” Harry trailed off, trying to recall every detail of their lore.

“Well, what did she do?” Louis asked impatiently, enraptured by the story already, even with the mediocre telling.

“She cursed Aischylos to become a wolf because if she couldn’t have him, then neither could Akel, right? So now Aisch was a full blown wolf, and Akel cried and cried, begging the witch to change him back, because Kakó had admitted to the deed, wanting recognition for what she did—” he paused to take another drag and slowly let it out before resuming. “—so I guess she thought she’d won, but once Akel realized her love for her husband was still stronger than the witch’s curse, she went ahead and breeded with him anyway. Which personally makes me sick to my stomach to think about, but what ended up resulting from that was the first of our kind. Human-like wolves that turned into what our Father was on the full moon because that’s when we were first born from Akeldama. On a full moon. Make sense?”

Louis nodded and tried to imagine the full and artfully detailed tale in his head, taking out Harry’s adlibs.

“So allegedly, we all have one Mother and Father, and _supposedly_ we are all spawn of that first litter that she had. So by default, all sharing the same blood in our veins from Akel and Aisch. I don’t wholeheartedly believe it, but it’s all we got,” he said, shrugging at Louis and giving him a lopsided smile. “That’s why we call each other ‘brother’ and ‘sister.' Are we all truly related? Probably not. But we do all share the same blood of the wolf. That much is true, and that blood flows within you, as well. You and I are connected to each other somehow through that. Bonded by what we are. Any creature that glares at the moon is family to me.”

Louis said nothing but suddenly threw a leg over Harry’s thighs and walked forward on his knees until he was straddling the wolf’s hips. He had no idea what came over him, but he wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck and nuzzled his face into the junction of the wolf’s neck and shoulder.

Harry didn’t seem to mind though, and he reached up the back of Louis’ shirt to softly drag his nails down the shivering skin. “You belong with me,” Harry whispered against his ear, tightening his arms around the blue-eyed wonder and sighing against his prominent collarbones.

“I’ve never felt so complete. I’m still a little embarrassed that we did that, though,” he admitted, blushing and hiding in Harry’s neck.

“What, mated? Don’t worry. If you’d let me, I could redo your first time and take you to bed like this. Show you what kind of bonds you can create with your own kin,” he growled seductively, gasping when Louis began grinding his hips down onto Harry’s crotch.

“When?” Louis panted, licking a broad stripe up Harry’s neck and tangling his fingers in his hair. He’s never felt aroused per se, save for the inconvenient boner he’d have to take care of in the morning, but this wolf boy was setting every single lustful instinct he could have on fire. “I’ve never felt like this before,” he decided to mention.

“Again, it’s because you weren’t around your own kind. Humans are boring and bland, we can’t connect with them like this. At least, it’s ridiculously rare to do it. They don’t know how to please us…but I…I know what you want, Lou. I know what you need. I can satisfy you like you wouldn’t believe,” Harry said inbetween kisses he was placing on Louis’ face and neck.

“ _When_?” Louis growled, rapidly reaching his breaking point.

“Shall I take you home with me right now?” Harry murmured darkly to the furiously nodding Louis. “Alright, let me get my clothes on. Sorry about your underwear, by the way. We couldn’t save those.”

“It’s okay, less to remove,” Louis dismissed, reluctantly getting off Harry’s lap so he could get up.

“Come on,” Harry urged, lightly grabbing Louis’ hand and dragging him back into the cave.

The smell that hit Louis was intoxicating, and his eyes immediately flew to the other wolves on the ground. Zayn and Liam were both inside of Niall, and the three were rolling around and growling into each other’s mouths. Louis couldn’t help but stare unblinkingly at the scene before him, and the only thing that tore his longing gaze away was Harry clearing his throat right behind him.

He turned to see Harry dressed in perfectly normal human clothes, well probably the tightest black jeans ever, but other than that, totally normal. He hadn’t cleared his throat for Louis’ attention though, and he repeated the action louder until the three copulating wolves paused and turned their heads to their leader quizzically.

“Oh—hey, Harry. Kinda busy, but what—d’ya—want?” Zayn heaved through wheezy breaths. Once Liam knew Zayn was taking care of the talking, he put his focus back on Niall and passionately connected their lips while he ran his hands all over the blonde’s shivering body.

“I’m taking Louis to bed to mate,” he said matter-of-factly, Zayn smirking in response. “I don’t want any of you coming home for at least two hours, you got that? And if you do, don’t come in the room. He’s mine first, I already claimed him last night. You’ll just have to wait,” he pressed firmly, snaking an arm around Louis’ hips and pulling him against his chest.

“They’ll have to _wait_?” Louis repeated tensely, twisting his neck to let Harry see his wide-eyed and disbelieving expression.

Harry smiled and pushed Louis’ face back around with his own so Zayn could communicate with him.

“Would you not want me?” Zayn taunted, slowly beginning his thrusts into the moaning Niall again, now that he understood the main point of the conversation. “I find you enticingly beautiful, and I’ve wanted you since I saw you in the coffee shop. I’ll take good care of you too, pup. You only ever need to ask, and I’m yours.”

Louis was speechless at the offer, but Harry swept him off his feet and retreated with the puppy in his arms, not waiting for the rest of that discussion either. “Liam was a tad lost in Niall, but he would have said the same. Niall too. They all want you,” he informed as they took the long way around the water wall to hop across the stones and reach the trees.

Once in the same spot Louis had fallen last night, Harry set him down on his feet and grabbed his hand instead to lead him through the forest, taking the shortcut to get to the mansion.

“Do I have to?” Louis asked nervously, finding them all very attractive, but so far only having that specific desire with Harry.

“No, of course you don’t have to. But my brothers and I share everything, and you are a coveted lover. I don’t think you’ll need much convincing from them, Louis. Just give it time, we’ll all pleasure you at once if that’s what you ask of us,” Harry silkily replied, using his free hand to run his knuckles down Louis’ high cheekbone. “You don’t have to decide anything right now, pup. You’re all mine today,” he added when he saw Louis’ anxious lip-biting.

Louis smiled and almost visibly relaxed his shoulders, leaning into Harry and running his other hand up and down the inside of Harry’s forearm. “I only want you for now,” he agreed, gasping when Harry scooped him into his arms again.

“You can have me.”


	5. Gotta Say Silver

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra, Extra! Getcha smut right here!

It wasn’t that long of a walk before Harry got him to a hotel, which confused Louis because Harry had said he was taking him home, but he supposes a hotel room would do just the same.

What he didn’t expect was to be met with an actual house interior when Harry pulled him through two giant wooden doors that apparently replaced glass ones. Instead of an average lounge, it looked like a living room, with kids running around everywhere, and adults sinking into couches, reading the newspaper as the telly was on in the background.

“Do you live here?” Louis asked under his breath as he gandered at the lavish decorations and furniture.

“Yeah, this is my pack house. We all wanted to live together, so the leaders bought out this place to claim as our own. It was before I was born, like actually born, so I’ve never known anything else.”

Harry began to pull him toward the elevators when an impressively beautiful forty-something man came around the corner and raised his very characteristic eyebrows in composed astonishment. “Harry, who is this?”

Harry jolted at the Alpha’s voice and bowed respectfully in his presence. Louis almost did the same but got rooted to the spot when the man strode up to him and held a hand under his chin, staring deeply into his eyes. “Where do you come from?”

“Don’t scare him, Jareth, he’s just a puppy. We found him in the forest last night, well he found us really, and he turned for the first time. He was adopted, so he had no clue,” Harry explained from his deferential position.

“Is he yours?” Jareth asked Harry, raising him back up by his chin as well.

“He belongs to room 428,” Harry said politely, but sternly.

“Of course, son,” Jareth chuckled, inwardly rolling his eyes at Harry’s unnecessary possession. He was going to continue questioning the puppy until he smelled his arousal permeating the air, and waved them off with a ringed hand. “Go take care of him. But I need to talk to the both of you when you return. Whenever you’re ready. Preferably with your brothers present as well.”

“Sure,” Harry rushed, dragging Louis the rest of the way to the elevators and yanking him inside. “He’s our Alpha if you couldn’t tell,” Harry grunted as he shoved Louis against the elevator wall and rolled his hips against his arse, punching the correct floor number button as an afterthought.

Louis cried out and spread his legs when Harry’s hand crept down his torso to paw at his growing erection through his jeans. “Just fuck me,” he hissed, spinning around and climbing the older wolf, wrapping his legs around his back and pulling on his long curly hair as they ascended through the building.

Harry moaned and held Louis up by his thick arse, licking into his mouth and breathing the air from his lungs. They were both so lost to the world that they didn’t notice the doors had opened by now, and they certainly didn’t notice the woman that was staring at them with a look of horror on her face.

Still unaware, Harry turned and dropped down, slamming Louis onto the floor and clawing his way up the pup’s shirt, roughly taking a sensitive nipple between his teeth as a hand found its way down the front of Louis’ pants. Louis’ back-arching moan was cut off by a scandalized throat clearing to their left.

Harry growled and lifted his face from Louis’ chest to scold the intruder, but practically screeched when he saw who it was. He instantly retracted his hand and pulled Louis’ shirt back down, frantically heaving him off the floor. “Mom!” he exclaimed, face the very picture of guilt and embarrassment.

Louis blanched too, and his eyes went as wide as the sickening full moon in the presence of Harry’s _Mother_ , who had just seen them rutting like animals on the elevator floor.

Harry spluttered at his Mother’s continuously silent and appalled scowl, and he pointlessly fixed his wild hair as he cleared his throat an unnecessary amount of times. He looked back and forth from Louis to his Mother, completely at a loss for an acceptable way to handle this.

“You know I can’t ever unsee what I’ve just been made to see, right? You get that, right?” she said as she raised her voice more with every word, but there was a tone of amusement under all of it. At least, Louis was praying there was.

“I’m so sorry, Mom, uh…this is Louis,” Harry said as he pushed Louis forward into the line of fire, sacrificing him to save his own ass.

“Uh, well, er…” Louis stuttered as the woman’s gaze fell onto him.

“Harry, calm yourself. I’m not mad, but you know most of the pack would be pretty upset with this display of…affection,” she settled on disapprovingly. “I was up here because I needed to speak with you, but now I’ll say find me later…just take him to your _room_ , please.”

“Got it,” Harry said with a strained voice, grabbing Louis by the hand and just about leaping out of the elevator.

“It was nice to meet you,” Louis called as he squeezed his eyes shut, suffocating in his shame. There wasn’t a reply, but he didn’t truly want one, so that was fine.

Harry ran down the hall to get to room 482, hastily unlocking it with shaking hands and propelling Louis through the entrance. He slammed the door shut behind him and shoved Louis back against it at the same time. He picked up exactly where he left off, but this time the shirt came all the way off as Harry was licking circles on Louis’ nipples.

Louis groaned and weaved his fists back into Harry’s hair, wincing at the death grip on his hips, but not wanting it to let up either. “I can’t believe that was your—”

“Shut up, Louis,” Harry muttered, silencing him with a tongue in his mouth. He rubbed Louis’ crotch until it hardened again in his hand, and dropped to his knees to get the pup’s pants off.

Louis gasped and lifted his hips off of the door so the clothing would come off easily, shivering when the air conditioned breeze in the room assaulted his upper thighs. Harry warmed them up with his reverent hands, and scented his cock before moaning and taking it into his mouth.

Louis bit his fist to keep from screaming and worked on staying upright under the intense pleasure he was experiencing. Obviously the only action he’d ever gotten was his own hand, and it just did absolutely nothing compared the wet warmth of a mouth.

Harry could tell the puppy was struggling to stay standing, and when he started sliding down the door, the cultured wolf pulled off his cock and dragged him to bed by his armpits, tossing him down on the soft comforter and snatching a bottle of lube off the side table.

Once acquired, Harry smashed their lips together for a few more sweet moments before roughly rolling Louis over and pulling his cheeks apart. He let out a pleased breath with what he found, and Louis turned his head back to ask what he was doing, or rather what was taking so long.

“You’re shaved,” Harry said in wonderment, admiring the gleaming and perfect looking hole that he would soon destroy.

“Well yeah…I _am_ gay, after all. Just because nobody was interesting, I didn’t think I’d be a virgin forever,” he responded, almost choking when he felt Harry’s thumb brush over it.

“No, you certainly weren’t going to be one forever. I took that from you,” Harry said proudly, shuffling down to pull Louis up by his hips and get him on his knees.

“This puts a whole new meaning to the phrase,” Louis muttered offhandedly as Harry ran his hands up and down Louis’ shoulders to the backs of his knees.

“What, doggy-style?” Harry asked, chuckling when the puppy nodded his head. “You have no idea,” he said mysteriously, pressing his tongue against Louis’ hole and cracking down two symmetrical spanks to each of Louis’ cheeks.

Louis yelped and jerked from all the different sensations at once, but Harry held his hips firmly in place so he couldn’t move much. Louis was positively trembling, and when he felt Harry’s tongue push past his entrance, he could have died from the maddening euphoria it introduced.

“H-Harry,” he hoarsely whispered, trying to find his breath but losing it every time Harry did something new with his tongue.

“I know, puppy. I’ll give you what you need,” Harry grunted, pouring the lube on his fingers and rubbing them all over the area. “Tell me if I’m going too fast.”

“Just do it,” Louis growled impatiently, keening when Harry pushed two fingers into him at once. “Fuck yes,” he moaned, pushing back against the intrusion and lifting his hips as high as they could go.

“You’re so needy, Lou. Bet you didn’t think you ever would be. I’m gonna turn you into a slut,” Harry declared, scissoring his fingers and curling them downward to reach the spot Louis probably didn’t even know existed.

Louis’ vision almost blacked out when Harry’s fingers pushed down on a certain area inside of him, and he was obviously aware of what it was, but he’d certainly never come in contact with it himself before. “Oh my—nnff, Harry do that again,” he panted, fisting the comforter and gasping when Harry granted him with the same motion.

Before long, every movement of Harry’s fingers were directly aimed at that spot, and Louis was a sobbing mess; aching for Harry to slow down, but to do something more at the same time. Louis was conflicted and overwhelmed, and he didn’t think he could take any more, but he wasn’t _full enough_. He wasn’t in enough pain. Whoa, pain? _No way. A pain kink? Really?_ he thought, criticizing himself for the unexpected enjoyment.

“Hurt me, Harry,” he gritted through his teeth, deciding it was best to accept his unknown fetish to himself so he could get what he truly wanted.

“You want me to hurt you?” Harry lowly rumbled in his ear, having quickly moved up Louis’ body at the tempting request.

“Don’t hold back. I wanna cry from your cock,” he said through a moan, shocking himself with the vulgar words coming out of his mouth, but throwing his cares to the wind.

“I don’t think you know what you’re asking for—” Harry warned as he roughly bit into Louis’ neck, “—but if you want to cry, I’ll make you cry. But if you want me to stop, you have to say ‘silver,' okay? If you don’t say silver, I’m not listening to you. Are you gonna remember that?”

Louis nodded surely and couldn’t help remembering the forks and knives incident last night in his parents’ kitchen. Are lycans really repellent to silver?

He didn’t get the chance to further his train of thought because Harry had apparently now decided he was prepared enough to mate.

Harry pushed the head of his cock into the pliant Louis, and the little wolf shrieked at the stretch his hole was enduring to give way.

Any other time, Harry would have waited patiently until his bottom was accustomed to the feeling before driving his hips in all the way, but Louis had essentially specified not to, so Harry yanked the boy back by his hips until his own hip bones smashed into Louis’ soft skin.

Louis outright screamed from the searing thrust, and he shoved his face into a pillow to try and muffle the sound, but the entire floor probably heard him anyway.

The pain for Louis was far beyond what he’d anticipated; his entire lower half felt like it was burning as hot as a star, and he felt ruthlessly invaded. He actually had someone inside of him, and he felt utterly violated because of it, but there was a better and more optimistic word whispering itself to him through his subconscious:

_Claimed._

Louis knew he liked the sound of that, and he turned his head to tell Harry to move, but the other wolf had finally caught his breath and he pushed Louis’ head back down onto the mattress, instantly thrusting as hard as he could. Harry removed his hand from Louis’ hair and grabbed onto his hips instead, using them as leverage to hit that sweet spot he’d located earlier.

Louis cried out when the shift in angles caused that same sensation as Harry’s fingers did, only now it was multiplied by a hundred.

“You like that, Louis?” Harry groaned, extending his claws to hook into the skin of Louis’ curvy waist.

Louis sobbed and looked down his chest to see his blood dripping down Harry’s fingers from how far his nails were embedded in his flesh. Everything was so overstimulating and excruciating, but the torture was laced with such delicious ecstasy that he would _never_ tell Harry to stop. “Mmhmm,” he moaned in response to Harry’s question, squeezing his eyes shut and letting his muscles relax as he collapsed onto the bed.

Harry had a good enough hold on him that he didn’t get anywhere by dropping his weight, and the older wolf was easily strong enough to do this all day if he had to.

After a few more minutes of the rough mating, Harry pulled out and flipped Louis over to face him, throwing his legs over his shoulders and slamming back into him, all in the span of five seconds.

Louis opened his eyes from getting thrown around so unexpectedly, and he swooned when he saw Harry’s gorgeous face looking down at him. Harry’s hands were resting on either side of Louis, pushing down into the mattress with every thrust of his hips, and Louis almost thought he was on a trampoline.

The younger wolf moved his legs off of Harry’s shoulders to hang over his arms instead and he reached up to pull Harry down by the back of his neck and kiss him senseless.

Harry returned the kiss feverishly, exploring as much of Louis’ mouth as his tongue could get to. He lifted his hands one by one to put them back down on the other side of Louis’ thighs, and the younger wolf automatically hooked his ankles behind Harry’s back when he was free to do so.

Harry pressed their chests together and moved his hands up behind Louis’ upper back, wrapping his fingers around Louis’ shoulders and holding him in place. He slowed the pace of his hips to really take it all in and experience it in the moment, and Louis took the time to commit everything to his memory.

The older wolf disconnected their lips and kissed down Louis’ jaw to attack the puppy’s smooth neck with his teeth, probably creating a lot of angry hickeys in the process, but who’s complaining?

Louis bared his neck to give him easier access and ran his nails across Harry’s back, making a high-pitched whine of concern when he felt the wolf’s skin break under his unexpected claws. He looked at his dangerously sharp nails that were coated with blood, and was about to apologize profusely when Harry reached back to slap Louis’ hands back down where they were. “You can hurt me too, you know,” he grunted, extending his canines and sinking them into Louis’ neck to encourage him.

Louis yelped and did as he was permitted, scratching all of Harry that was in reach. He brought a hand to his mouth and mindlessly lapped at the blood that he’d collected, startling himself with the foreign behavior.

“It’s okay, Louis,” Harry whispered approvingly, leaning back in to lick at the younger wolf’s blood from his neck and capture him in a kiss again. Louis was a bit put off by the taste of his own, but it was all just so hot and _so_ dirty, and he was finally alive.

Louis quickly lost all control of his reactions and responses, so he just let himself go completely, surrendering himself under Harry’s superiority.

Harry noticed instantly when Louis wholly submitted himself to whatever Harry had to give, and he figured now was as good a time as any to bring this to a close.

Harry knew they didn’t have much room left to roll or they would fall off, so he unhooked Louis’ legs from behind him and straightened them out, getting a hand under the small of Louis’ back and flipping them over so the younger wolf was on top.

Harry bounced him up and down on his cock for a while, enjoying his lover’s small size and firework-like enthusiasm, before getting impatient and rolling them over once again, pulling out for the last time he would be able to for quite some time.

Louis whined desperately at the loss, but Harry flipped him over for the countless time so that he was on his stomach, and quickly re-entered that addictive place he never wanted to leave.

The older wolf kept the same speed, but drastically increased the power and force of his thrusts, knocking the wind out of Louis’ lungs every time he slammed as deep as he could go. Which was _deep_ if he may be so bold.

Harry felt the beginnings of his orgasm and he flattened himself down on top of Louis, nibbling on his ear and kissing the heated skin behind it. “I’m gonna knot you,” he whispered with a moan of anticipation.

“You’re gonna _what_?” the younger wolf panted in spite of everything. In Louis’ conscious mind, he realized pretty quickly what that meant, it’s just that he was definitely _not_ aware that was a thing that was going to happen...but his inner wolf was wagging its tail from the word, so it must be fine. “Please.”

Harry chuckled at the submission even though Louis was probably extremely confused. “You’re such a good boy,” he praised, holding his breath as his knot began expanding and waiting for the opportune moment to lock them together.

Louis growled defensively from the increasing pain, but his skin was covered in goosebumps and there was a tingling in the back of his neck as his release was rapidly catching up to him.

Harry timed everything perfectly, and he shoved his knot deep into his puppy while he tilted his head to burrow his teeth into the exact middle-back of Louis’ neck, forcefully pinning him down as he pumped him with seed.

Louis meanwhile was a sobbing mess, having come with the force of a bomb, no doubt ruining the comforter, and he was reveling in being so heavily dominated like this. He absolutely adored being held down, and he was in love with the rush of warm liquid spilling into his spent body.

The older wolf was emitting a constant rumble from his throat while he occasionally licked at the wound he was creating, still holding onto it with his sharp and embedded canines.

Louis couldn’t speak yet, but there wasn’t anything worth saying to befit this indescribable moment of serenity, so he just worked on slowing his breathing so he could at least function.

Harry got his senses back when he stopped coming, and he carefully took his teeth out and nuzzled Louis’ hair, humming in satisfaction and rolling them onto their sides. He wrapped his arms around Louis’ trembling frame and spoke doting nonsense into his ear until he calmed down.

When Louis came down from his earth-shattering high, he went to face Harry but found out pretty quickly that he couldn’t get very far. Harry winced from the tug on his knot, and the startled Louis cried out as well.

“You do know what knot means, right?” Harry muttered as he reached down and pushed it deeper into Louis where it belonged.

“Yeah, but…are we actually stuck?” Louis asked in disbelief, twisting around every which way to try and see their conjoined condition.

“Yes, delicately so, so please lie still,” Harry said sternly, pushing Louis around and tightening his arms to keep him from squirming.

“We’re tied together like dogs?”

“We _are_ dogs, Lou. We’re _wolves_ ,” Harry enunciated, dragging out the word to really drive the point home.

“Well, I know _that_ , but I didn’t think this would happen when we look like this,” Louis defended, fully registering their situation and purring from the knowledge that Harry couldn’t leave yet. Louis didn’t want Harry going anywhere, and now he really couldn’t. _Fuck yes._

“It carries over,” Harry informed, running his hand down Louis’ side to rest on his hip. “It’s just to keep my come inside of you.”

“Am I gonna get pregnant?” Louis squeaked, whipping his head around to see Harry’s bemused face.

“Are you a female?”

“No…”

“We may be an underground and magical species, but we don’t defy the laws of nature, Louis,” Harry chuckled, sighing in exasperation when he smelled his brothers walking down the hallway, assaulting his ears with their obnoxious cackles over whatever they found so hilarious.

Louis seemed to realize their privacy was about to crumble as well, and he frantically tried to cover his body with his hands before the door opened.

Harry deciphered his nerves and rolled Louis over the top to the other side so the boys would initially see Harry’s butt instead of Louis’ front. The older wolf shushed him comfortingly as their room was busted into by the boisterous wolves. “Guys, can you keep it the fuck down, please?” he angrily called over his shoulder.

“Oh shit. Sorry, Harry,” Zayn said quietly, slowly walking around the beds to get a glimpse of the new wolf.

Louis was much more shy than he was last night because of his compromising situation, and the fact that in his _right mind_ , he needed to connect with someone’s personality before he was confident around them. Sure, these boys and himself had met in strange and intimate ways so far, but it was different now.

“Hey there, little puppy,” Zayn sweetly sung, smiling his brightest at the submissive, overjoyed they had another perfect doll to take control of.

“Back off, Zayn. I’m not kidding. Until further notice, this puppy is mine. Leave him alone,” Harry snapped, adding a snarl for good measure.

“No, it’s okay, Harry. I’m just…it’s alright. Hi,” he nervously greeted the black-haired wolf, trying his best to smile at the other two he could see at the foot of the bed.

“You’re just a ravishing little thing, aren’t you?” Zayn cooed, climbing onto the bed and reaching a hand out toward the nervous creature.

Louis recoiled for a fleeting moment before timidly reaching his hand out, smiling when Zayn took it gingerly and brought it to his lips.

“Sorry we barged in, Harry. We wouldn’t have if we’d known you two were knotted, but you weren’t answering your texts and we got bored,” Liam said to Harry as Louis and Zayn were lost in their flirtatious eye contact.

“Me knotting is _why_ I didn’t answer my phone, you fucking idiots,” the leader muttered under his breath, shaking his head and letting out a tired sigh.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense…” Liam said guiltily, looking to the floor and rubbing the back of his neck.

“Do you like being knotted, Louis?” Zayn asked, laying down on his side to better  communicate with the beauty.

Louis blushed and nodded his head, pulling Harry’s arm over his body more so he could get some coverage. “Mmhm.”

Niall noticed what the puppy was trying to do, and he ran to the corner to grab a blanket and throw it over the couple.

Louis noticeably sighed in relief to be concealed, and he came all the way out of his shell as Harry caressed small circles into his skin.

“I love it. I’m sorry I didn’t say much in the way of introductions last night, I was a bit preoccupied. And this morning, I was just speechless,” Louis said in a much louder tone than the one he’d been using.

Zayn raised his eyebrows at the change of behavior and shared an amused smile with Harry. It was rather adorable that the new wolf got renewed confidence from being more private with the knot.

Harry may have felt a bit _too_ complimented, but for some reason he was overly pleased with Louis wanting their connection to be between them and nobody else. It shot straight to his ego, and he grinned into Louis’ fluffy light-brown hair.

Zayn was softly stroking Louis’ hand with his thumb and he bent down to kiss it one more time before hopping off the bed and retreating to his room. “See you guys later,” he called, instantly turning his stereo on and going into artist mode.

Liam and Niall were still in mating mode, especially with the scent hanging in the air, and they rushed off with a quick and polite goodbye, telling Louis they’d spend time with him later.

Aside from the noise coming from their rooms, the knotted pair were now alone again, and Louis turned his face to meet Harry’s beautiful eyes. “When does your knot go down?”

“Usually lasts about an hour,” the leader informed, yawning from a sudden wave of exhaustion.

“That long? I’m gonna be so sore,” Louis groaned, dreading the future of painful sitting.

“You’d be surprised,” Harry said mysteriously, lifting the blanket off of them for a demonstration. “Look at your hips.”

Louis made a curious noise and dipped his head down into the blanket to find out what was Harry was talking about. He was mystified to discover that the previous cuts from Harry’s ludicrously sharp wolf claws were fully healed. Only the aftereffect of smeared blood remained. “Whoa,” he breathed in fascination.

“Before you ask, my back is fine as well. We heal fast—as long as the injuries are small,” Harry informed, licking up the side of Louis’ neck and making him squirm. Harry moved Louis’ hair off of the very back of it and admired his handiwork scarred into the skin. “My bite won’t ever go back, though,” he murmured, pressing kisses to the sensitive area. “I’ve marked you. That’s for life.”

Louis’ interest was peaked from such a committed declaration, and he found himself grinning uncontrollably as he asked, “What do you mean exactly?”

“I’ll tell you all about that later, Lou. I’ll answer every question you have to the best of my ability. Right now though, you need sleep. We all do. Full moon is three nights long, so we’ve got two more to do this month.”

“Oh _shit_ ,” Louis gasped. “You need to get me to my phone.”

The couple did some seriously impressive maneuvers to reach down over the bed and successfully grab Louis’ pants, and the young wolf ripped the phone out of the pocket with a terrified look on his face.

“What is it?” Harry asked, voice heavy with concern.

“My parents. I just left, and I never talked to them afterward. I’m sure they’ve been worried sick, I can’t believe I forgot to talk to them...” Louis cut off when he saw he actually had no missed calls. “...that’s odd. I never go out, why wouldn’t they say anything?”

“Maybe they just—”

“No, you don’t know our dynamic. I never leave. Okay, I have a message,” he said more to himself than Harry, opening the app with a shaky thumb.

**Hey Loubear, we definitely need to talk when you get back home, but I understand you can’t right now. Come home after the full moon has passed, okay? We love you, and we hope you found a good place to stay.**

“What the fuck,” Louis whispered under his breath, Harry’s curious face peeking around his arm to read the words on the screen.

“They know?” Harry asked in disbelief. “I thought you were adopted... How would they know if you’ve never shown signs until recen—well, I guess they must have known your parents. At least knew what you were as soon as they got you,” Harry theorized, using his most advanced critical thinking to try and understand the four parents’ motives. Whoever adopted him was a human partner to lycans, or there’s no way they could have known about him.

 _Louis_ didn’t even know…

Unless they were lycans themselves. “Louis, do you think your adoptive parents are—”

“Not like us,” Louis negated, shaking his head surely. “Believe me, I’ve seen them with silver.”

Neither of them said anything, both deep in thought for why and how his parents seemed to know exactly what was going on. Louis huffed and threw his phone away, pulling the blanket over his head and snuggling back onto Harry’s knot. “Whatever. I’m gonna sleep now.”

Harry chuckled and got under the blanket too so he could be closer to his perfect little puppy. “Everything will be okay, Louis. Your ours now, and we take care of what’s ours.”


	6. Zayn's Turn

Louis awoke to an empty hole and an empty bed. He wiggled around under the blanket, trying to find the top of it, and folded it over as he sat up. According to the cracked alarm clock on the bed stand, not only did he have work two hours ago, but he also had football practice in four, and he didn’t know how he was supposed to go waltzing back into society like this.

He sighed and leaned down to grab his clothes, but he was interrupted as soon as he began putting them on.

“What are you doing?” Zayn asked from the corner of the room, sitting sideways in a love seat with his nose in a book.

“Well, I have to call my work, and then I have other things to do today, I dunno, I need to turn in a paper to one of my professors and then go to the field and—”

“Whoa, no. You can’t really do anything. Even during the day, being around humans in the full moon cycle will freak you out. You need to stay with us until it’s over,” he argued, setting his open book face-down on a side table and walking over to sit on the bed.

“I can’t just quit my life, and I certainly can’t call into work three nights every month—”

“Louis, you don’t have a choice. And work isn’t an issue. Just call corporate and tell them you need a howler schedule,” he said, grabbing his phone and holding it out to Louis.

“A what?”

“Howler schedule. We’re a secret species, but do you really think the government doesn’t know everything about us? We’re on good terms for now…hopefully that never changes. But yeah, higher up will just never let the algorithm fill in your name for a schedule during the moon passing, and if your boss tries to, their database won’t let them. You’re protected by a bunch of laws, so you can’t get fired from it. Of course, then they’ll put you in their lycan list, but it’s better than getting fired all the time.”

“What about school?” he asked, intrigued by all of these things he never would have known had he not been a lycan himself.

“Same thing,” Zayn assured, flopping down on his stomach and resting his chin in his palm. “Call the district. They’ll spout some bullshit to your professors, I don’t really know what they say, but nobody ever asks. Except for friends and stuff.”

“What about football team?”

“Ah…yeah, you’ll probably have to quit that,” Zayn said apologetically. “Our kind is given three moon days out of every month to have to ourselves, but only from government run federal companies and whatnot. You should always work in a large chain for that reason, or it gets harder. And it’s not everyone higher up that knows, it’s just the top of the top. Sometimes you really gotta look if it’s a subsidiary of something bigger. It’s difficult as hell, but we have to do it, or we can’t hold down jobs. And you have to ask the most important person, so just suffer through getting transferred a shit load of times until you get to the executive's secretary or whatever, then say you need the schedule. They’ll know what it is too.”

“I can’t believe this is more or less common knowledge,” Louis breathed, getting his phone out to find the breadcrumb trail for Starbucks’ corporate kingpin. “Are there vampires too?”

Zayn cackled into the comforter and slapped his hands on the top of his head as he laughed it out. He then dumbly remembered Louis truly didn’t know, so he lifted his face to give a more serious response. “Sorry, Lou. No. Those do not exist. Well, to be perfectly honest, not that we know of. I’m not entirely sure why we exist either, but basically our lore is that there was a girl named Aka—”

“Oh, no. I am not listening to that bestiality story again,” Louis said, cringing at the odd tale he’d been told. At the time, it hadn't seemed all that bad, but now that he’d been knotted, the thought of mating with humans was...

“Harry already told you, then?” Zayn mused, chuckling when Louis nodded with an apprehensive expression. “Yeah, it’s pretty weird. But as far as we know, we’re the only creature that’s a mix of human and something else. We do have an enemy, though,” he said darkly, getting a vicious look on his face as he thought of them.

“What are they?” Louis asked, thrust into existential fear from some nameless threat.

“Hunters,” Zayn spat, snarling as his claws came out.

Louis saw him losing control and he reached out to caress his arms, smiling when Zayn came back to the present. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” the black-haired wolf grunted, shaking himself and sitting all the way up. “Another reason why we can’t be around humans in the cycle. This is a tense time for us. We essentially fight and fuck for seventy-two hours, and we’re superior to humans in strength, so if we were to get angry…anything could happen, you know? Probably why the government treats us so nicely. To keep us happy, so we won’t revolt and kill all of their citizens.”

Louis recoiled at the bluntness of the statement and backed up a few feet across the double beds, regarding Zayn warily. “Would you really kill people?”

Zayn’s eyes never left Louis’; boring into him with his gaze and keeping his face completely unreadable. “Do I scare you?” he asked almost seductively.

Louis narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, hard-pressed to fear something so alluring. “I haven’t decided…so I should ask about hunters another day, then?” he asked as he turned his attention to his phone to find the Starbucks hierarchy.

Zayn reached over and snatched it out of his hands, forcing him to focus on nothing but him. “That would be best, yes. It’s also best to do _this_ another day,” he added, shaking the phone with his wrist before tossing it to the side.

Louis shrugged neutrally, but a question came to his mind as he finally took a good look around the room: “Where’s Harry?”

Zayn looked around the room like he was just noticing Harry was absent, but of course he knew why. “He went with Liam and Niall to get sleeping bags and other civilized things to keep in the cave for when we shift back tonight. We’ve never particularly cared, but we want to treat you right,” he informed, walking his fingers across the bed to smooth his palm up Louis’ thigh. “So they left about an hour ago, and Harry left me to look after you.”

Louis sharply inhaled and trembled from the delicious slide of Zayn’s hand on his sensitive skin. “Is that what you’re doing? Looking after me?” he challenged, heart quickening when Zayn advanced and pushed him down, settling down between his legs and rubbing their erections together.

The younger wolf was powerless against him, but he was _not_ fighting. He arched his back and threw his arms around Zayn’s neck, moaning when the instigating wolf pressed open mouthed kisses onto Louis’ throat, licking and biting to his heart’s content.

“I want you,” Zayn whispered hotly against Louis’ jaw, running a hand down his left leg and hiking it up, pushing it behind his back and bringing the same hand back to map Louis’ face with his fingertips. “So much.”

Louis stared into his hazel and smirking eyes, slowly losing all the nerves he’d previously had. “Harry really won’t be mad?”

Zayn let out a breathy laugh and dropped his head on Louis’ chest. “Let’s just say Harry doesn’t have sole custody of you. You’re ours just as much as we’re his,” he explained as he rolled his hips against Louis’ and retrieved the bottle of lube from under the pillow it had been poking out of.

“What do you mean? What are your guys’ ranks?” Louis inquired, gasping when Zayn’s slicked fingers started rubbing against his pliant hole.

“How about—” Zayn began as he pushed two fingers into the puppy’s entrance, shuddering at the delectable warmth he was met with. “—I tell you everything you wanna know when you’re sitting on my knot?” he lowly suggested.

“You better give it to me then,” Louis goaded, spreading his legs further apart so Zayn had more room to mate him.

Zayn smirked and decided Louis was loose enough for him, gently removing his fingers and pushing the head of his cock in instead, bottoming out and wrapping the puppy in his arms while he began to fuck into him. “Anything for you, Louis.”

 

\---

 

Half an hour or so later, Louis was cuddling on Zayn’s chest as he received a wonderful and appreciated back rub from the wolf that was connected to him. His happy thoughts traveled to their earlier conversation and he set his chin on the backs of his hands to address his new brother.

“So, what were we saying? Your ranks?” Louis reminded, squeaking out a little startled noise when Zayn sat them up straighter against the wall.

“Oh—sorry, puppy,” Zayn said for accidentally jostling him and probably moving the knot a bit. “Well, first you need to understand that we’re uncommon. The only reason we have ranks at all is because we’re gay. The only gay wolves in the entire clan, actually—”

“Clan? I thought it was a pack,” Louis noted as he began rubbing Zayn’s hands in thanks for the earlier massage.

“Clan, pack, and tribe are all the same thing. People will disagree, but fuck them,” he explained, getting back on topic before he got too distracted by Louis’ beauty. “Being gay isn’t particularly accepted among our species. Our pack, yes, but not in the whole world. It’s because we’re lower in numbers than we used to be, and we should be working to repopulate our kind, so being gay is kind of counterproductive.”

“Really the only gay ones here?” Louis asked.

“Yup. The only reason we’re so separate from our pack and do most things on our own is because we have such a strong connection to each other for being different, and we have our own way of mating and living life, you know? Straight couples are self explanatory. The dominant one is clear. But with us, it’s different. We have to keep a pack rank system or we’d be running in circles.”

“Which is, what? Alpha, Beta, and Omega?” Louis guessed, pulling his assumption from the only thing he knows about wolves.

“Kind of… Okay, we are the Atsila tribe, by the way. You’ll need to know that eventually. Our Alpha is Jareth, and his Beta is Dean. They, along with their closest brothers and the Mage, Kira, are in charge of all of us. They just make all the decisions. The Omega is Max. He gets shoved around a lot, and walked all over, but we need him, and he needs us. It’s just how shit works,” Zayn accounted, educating Louis on things he would definitely need to be aware of.

“Why is there an Omega at all?” Louis asked in confusion. “It seems so cruel to me.”

“It’s primitive, for sure…but I don’t know. I guess when there’s someone to take your anger out on, you are able to release it without guilt and continue on with your important matters, whatever those may be. We’re a very angry species of creatures. Some more than others. If we don’t get out aggression, it inevitably builds to degrees that can get impossible to deal with. If something goes seriously wrong, we can emotionally explode—for lack of a better term. Having someone to take all that negativity willingly saves us from lashing out at humans and other wolves around us.”

“You really don’t feel bad for Max?” Louis asked, playing with Zayn’s hair as he spoke.

“Not at all. He knows his role, and maybe if he had a choice, he’d get out of the position, but Omegas know how important they are to their pack. Even though they don’t see it all the time, they know they’re helping. And Max gets showered with love and affection once a week, or he’d reach a breaking point. It’s a precarious balance, but one that’s never faltered. Besides, I don’t go to him much. I have Niall for that,” Zayn said with a smirk, fonding over his perfect little punching bag.

“Wait, but that’s sexual. You said you’re the only gay ones…but they fuck Max?” Louis asked in frustrated confusion. Every single time he thought he understood something, there was another piece of information to come along and jumble it up.

“He’s the Omega. Of course they fuck him. They don’t have to be gay to fuck the Omega. And it’s only ever Max. They wouldn’t ever fall in love with other males. That’s what really makes us different. They wouldn’t spend the rest of their lives with a male. Hate-fucking Max has nothing to do with it.”

“Does that mean you’re in love with the other boys?” Louis asked with a grin, close to _aww_ ing at the conclusion he’d come to.

“Irrevocably so,” Zayn confirmed, fluffing Louis’ hair and chuckling when it stuck straight up. “My heart belongs to them. I’ve never loved anything more than those three boys,” Zayn professed, turning Louis’ head back to face him when the wolf started to look away a bit solemnly. “Hey. I could fall for you. You’re perfect. If you’d have me, I’d give myself to you as well. You could drive my heart just as wild as they do.”

Louis grinned brighter than the sun and giggled shamefully loudly as he shoved his face in Zayn’s neck so he wouldn’t be seen being such a fool. “So, how does your dynamic work then?” he asked instead of responding to Zayn’s offer like he wanted to. He just couldn’t do that quite yet—too many butterflies in his stomach.

“Harry knots us, we knot Niall,” he said simply.

“You and Liam?” Louis clarified.

“Yeah. Harry knots Niall as well, but Liam and I are at a standstill. We’re perfectly matched in status, and we both want to knot each other. It sucks, we’ve been stuck in this power play for three years, neither giving in...we’ve done just about everything else, but I refuse to fully submit to him, and he refuses to submit to me. I’ll give him my knot someday, though. Just wait. It’s my lifelong dream,” he said with an intense and determined tone.

“So who knots Harry?”

“No one knots Harry,” Zayn replied, thumbing the bite mark he’d made on Louis’ upper shoulder when they’d reached their climaxes together. “You won’t find any claim marks on his neck.”

“Is that Harry’s?” Louis asked, pointing to the inch of scar tissue he could see wrapping around the back of Zayn’s neck.

“Yup. He’s my only one. Niall has three, one from each of us. Liam and I have Harry’s. Basically in our happy flock, by default, whoever submits the most and has the most claim marks on them is the lowest ranking member. And that’s Niall.”

Louis pondered this information and suddenly became hyper aware of the fact that he already has two. “Shit, I have to knot Niall,” he declared.

“Yes, you do,” Zayn chuckled, reverently running his nails across Louis’ mark that he’d made because he couldn’t get enough of it. “But I don’t think that’s going to be very hard for you. He’s ridiculously docile, and you’re only gonna get stronger.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh,” Zayn said anxiously, remembering that Louis wasn’t supposed to know about who he might be yet. “I mean Niall is already at his prime. And I just see a lot of potential in you…I think you could surpass us all.”

“Really?” Louis squeaked, tightening his grip on Zayn’s chest. “What makes you say that?”

Zayn stared hard into the wondrous eyes of the little wolf, marvelling at the rare and specific blue of them, and recalling how bright they’d been when he was in his wolf. “...I just colour you that way...”

Louis and Zayn were so locked into their heavy eye contact that they didn’t hear their brothers arriving until they’d already walked in the door.

“How did I know this would happen?” Harry said fondly, kicking off his shoes and jumping on the bed.

“Huh, it’s almost like you know me,” Zayn teased, happily sighing when Harry leaned in to press their lips together.

Louis was silently watching them make out and feeling a bit out of place, sitting on the knot of someone who was focusing on someone else. The ever aware Harry seemed to sense his emotions, and he stretched his arm behind him to grab onto the back of Louis’ neck, giving one final kiss to Zayn before immediately seeking out Louis’ lips instead.

Apparently Niall had snuck up behind him because Louis felt arms wrap around his middle and lips at his shoulderblades. Remembering their ranks, and fearing Niall might try something, Louis pushed off of Harry to throw a threatening growl at the blonde wolf.

Niall flinched and groaned to the ceiling, falling backward in defeat. “Damnit,” he muttered, disappointed that Louis was already his superior.

“I’ll deal with you later, Niall,” Louis said sternly, sharing a smirk with Zayn and earning an approving hum from Harry.

“Sorry, snowflake,” Liam cooed, pulling Niall into his arms and giving the other three their space.

“My little dominant one,” Harry murmured into Louis’ neck. “You can knot Niall all you want, but remember your place among us. You’ll always belong to Zayn and I.”

“Don’t worry. I know who my masters are,” Louis assured, nuzzling into Harry’s face and wiggling his hips on Zayn’s knot.

“That’s right, Lou. God, he’s so good,” Harry praised to Zayn, falling down to lay next to his brother and gaze adoringly at their new addition.

“Hardly needs any training,” Zayn agreed, rolling to the side so they could smush Louis between them.

“Jareth said he wants a meeting soon. So if you’re going to sleep, just know I’ll wake you up in like twenty minutes. It’s five o’clock, we need to go to the waterfall soon,” Liam informed to the uninterested wolves on the other bed.

“Yeah, whatever,” Harry sighed, fighting the temptation to join Zayn inside Louis, because the submissive probably wasn’t ready for that yet. He’d give him a day.


	7. Save Him From Himself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some mysteries are unearthed.

Louis was currently in a large circular old library looking room, sitting with all the boys and anxiously waiting for Jareth to start talking. They’d woken up too late for Louis to make any advancements on Niall, but he wasn't giving that up. Just postponing it.

“So, Louis. Have you lived here long?” Jareth asked, taking his nose out of his scrolls and giving Louis his undivided attention.

“No, I’ve only lived here for about two months,” Louis replied, smiling as politely as he could even though it was getting close to sunset and his skin was prickling with excitement to become a wolf again. Maybe this time he’d remember it.

He went to push his glasses up the bridge of his nose out of habit, but remembered there were no such spectacles present.

“Where did you come from?” the Alpha asked, interlocking his fingers and setting his elbows on the table curiously.

“Originally, I don’t know,” he responded honestly. “I was adopted, and I grew up all over America…but before that, I could have come from Mars, I’ve got no clue. My adoptive parents haven’t told me much, but I recently learned from a questionable text message that they know what I am. Which…I don’t know,” he trailed, getting lost in why his parents might have lied to him his whole life.

“I’m gonna need to talk to them. But first, I’m coming with you to your guys’ cave to take a look at your wolf, is that alright?” Jareth asked, with little to no room for debate.

“We’ll get ready now,” Harry responded, pulling Louis up by his elbow and leading him out of the room.

Jareth originally had a lot more questions, but hearing that Louis knew absolutely nothing, they had become null and void. Apparently he had to find out what Louis was capable of himself, but if he truly had blue eyes, then Jareth already knew where he came from.

 

\---

 

The small pack made one last stop to their room to pack their bags with everything they would want in the morning, and set off into the forest with an infinitely curious Jareth trailing behind them.

The Alpha was more than intrigued by the account that Harry had made about Louis’ stagnant blue eyes, and he needed to know for himself before he made any decisions about it. He had left Dean back at the mansion and hadn’t even told him about Louis’ eyes yet because there was no point in starting a fire if you had no wood to keep it going.

The group traveled to the same area as when Louis first turned and awaited the light to break through the testy clouds that were always filling the sky up in the Pacific Northwest.

When they were finally hit with the rays they needed, and as soon as Louis had quit _whining_ and just made the shift, Jareth was taken aback by the pigment that illuminated the eyes of his wolf. He slowly walked in a circle around the magnificent animal and gave it the occasional pat on the back, before crouching down to get in his face.

Louis was looking everywhere but at the Alpha’s eyes as he turned his chin every which way and looked at his teeth.

Harry was still in his human body for now and he commanded the other three lycans to put their bags in the cave and make the shift while he continued to watch Jareth’s inspection of their new brother.

Jareth turned his focus to the cerulean eyes once again, but Louis was dead set on respectfully averting them; and while that pleased the Alpha, he still needed to see them. “Louis, look this way please. Into my eyes. That’s right,” he said while he stared at them in the moonlight.

He made no obvious reaction, but when he was sure, the Alpha stood back up and gave Harry a knowing glance over his shoulder. The other three wolves returned then and rubbed their faces all over their brother, trying to initiate play.

“Okay, guys. Take Louis and go for a run. I’ll catch up with you later, okay? Just let me know where you run off to,” he said, sighing in relief when they simply listened and obeyed. He did not need a bunch of squabbling tonight.

“Is he Ashen?” Harry asked his Alpha once they were alone.

“Yyyyup,” Jareth quipped, walking to a large boulder and taking a seat onto it, Harry joining on the ground below.

“How is that even possible? And what does it mean?”

“I’m not sure…but it means we need to watch him. _You_ need to watch him. He shouldn’t know where he came from just yet, and he’s going to find out if you’re not careful—”

“But why? What even _was_ the Ashen clan? You Alphas never tell us anything,” Harry pressed in exasperation.

“You don’t know much about them, do you? Probably only know that they were annihilated, but you don’t know why,” Jareth guessed, humming when Harry nodded his head. “The Ashen clan were a large family of stupidly powerful lycans—the absolute top of our species’ food chain. They were an olde tribe of Russian lycans, and that’s where they were eliminated as well. They had scarily mysterious abilities that no other wolves knew the secrets of. It was just in their blood. They were all direct descendants from each other, never mating outside their own bloodline. Purest of the pure.”

“What kind of abilities did they possess?” Harry warily questioned.

“I’ll tell you what I _know_. Something tells me we still never found out all the things they could do, but from what we saw, aside from their massively superior strength and speed, they were completely immune to external silver, and they could turn against the full moon—”

“They could turn without the moon?” Harry interrupted in shock.

“Yes, and the only way they were taken out was from silver bullets that exploded once in the body. Having the cursed metal course through their veins was enough to slow them down, and they were dealt with afterward. Have you ever heard of the humans turned wolf? The half-breeds?”

“That’s just a legend,” Harry argued.

“No. They were real. They were born human, but turned wolf when they were bitten and given the blood of none other than the Ashen clan.”

Harry’s mouth dropped open and he shot onto his feet. “You can’t be serious! Is this what the high council has kept hidden for so long? Why nobody’s questions are ever answered? Why are you so sneaky?”

“Quiet! Do not disrespect me, Styles. I am a _member_ of the high council you’re currently insulting in case you've forgotten. A council that governs your very plentiful life, might I add, and I’m only telling you the details because Louis is now in your care,” Jareth growled, only continuing when Harry dropped his head in respect. “It is true that the Ashen clan had the ability to create lycans…by a mark of their own teeth, and the spilling of their own blood into the wound. They built an army that way with the motivation to overthrow the human governments and have more protection from hunters. The Ashen were not satisfied with living among them, and aggressively resentful toward anyone that stood in their way. That included our council that they pulled out of and betrayed when we wouldn’t stand with them. They wanted to reign supreme—to have control over the entire planet— and they probably would have if not for…”

“If not for what?” Harry implored, hanging on every word his Alpha was reciting.

“The hunters that took them down. Most of them were the half-breeds themselves, and we, the council, let it happen,” Jareth sighed, still holding a bit of guilt over signing off on the petition from the world’s sacred tribes.

“Please tell me you’re gonna explain that.”

Jareth was silent for almost a minute, fiddling with his hair and ignoring Harry’s gradually bottling outburst to keep talking. The Alpha finally sat up straight and met his fellow member’s eyes, letting it all out at once. “The Ashen clan was the sole reason we were discovered by the human race at all. We were hidden from the humans for centuries, but they intentionally exposed our kind a countless number of times. They wanted acknowledgement and recognition, so they showed themselves every chance they got—”

“Jesus Christ,” Harry breathed, getting ignored as his Alpha continued.

“— From their overly loud recklessness, the first group of hunters banded to start taking us out. The knowledge of our kind spread like wildfire, and hunters began appearing across the globe. Eventually forming the notorious Hunters Organization that we know today. They would follow us into the forest and attack us mid-turn—that’s how they overpowered us. All because the Ashen clan didn’t want to be a secret anymore. This is hundreds of years ago, so you have the right perspective. The hunters evolved into a tight-knit, _cult-like_ society of humans, passing down their knowledge and teachings through their generations until eventually…twenty years ago, the army the Ashen clan had been building turned against them. They sought out the hunters and as one, after being introduced to the silver bomb bullets the hunters had been perfecting, they all corralled the Ashen clan and took every single one of them out together. You must understand the Ashen and the Organization are both the best of their kind. The best lycans resided in Russia, and the best and most effective Hunters evolved there too…”

“So how were the sacred tribes involved exactly?” Harry asked, gulping at the severity of his situation with an Ashen mate.

“The world’s tribes were aware of this betrayal from a few brave half-breeds that reached out to the high council. We had a three day long meeting to discuss if we were okay with the hunters and the half-breeds taking out the most powerful clan of our kind, and when the final vote came, we all said yes. We didn't even know if they'd be able to, but we agreed to let them try. We didn’t like what the clan was doing either, and they were not particularly diplomatic and friendly with us ‘lapdogs,’ so we pledged we would not wage a war over eradicating them.”

“I’m guessing the half-breeds were killed anyway?” Harry guessed, earning an apathetic snort from his Alpha.

“Yeah. Obviously the hunters did not keep their end of the bargain, and we were utterly foolish to think they would. They destroyed everyone they could find that had been turned by the Clan, and then went back underground for a long time. They’re still somewhere in Russia, but nobody is sure where. So how Louis got to America, or what he’s doing here, how he was saved, I’m not sure…but I’m concerned that his powers will grow to their notoriously monstrous levels,” he said worriedly.

“Would that really happen, though? He’s not even around them,” Harry defended, refusing to believe that Louis would go rabid and evil if Harry turned his back too long.

“I don’t know, Harry, but it’s possible. It’s in his very blood. Ashen was driven by destructive and _innate_ greed and vanity, and their hatred of humans and wolves that were weaker than them ran deep. I’m afraid these ideals would begin to poison Louis without him even knowing why. You have to ensure he doesn’t go wandering off turning humans into lycans because he discovers he can. And he probably shouldn’t know that the pack he’s in at the moment was partly responsible for his parents getting killed. He may turn on us all—and we won’t want to be around if that day comes,” he finished to the speechless and horrified Harry.

“Louis would never! He’s so submissive. I’ve already knotted him, he’s nowhere near my stren—”

“Well, that's good. If you hadn't already, I would have ordered you to do it now…it's a good insurance policy, and it will slow him down...but he will become stronger than you no matter what,” Jareth interrupted, put off that he’d said this twice already. “It’s in his DNA. He will soon discover he can do things that we can’t. Turning against the moon will likely be the first one. Do not let his power control his mind. Don’t let it turn him away from his brothers. You have a bond now, and you need to protect him from himself. Running out and wreaking havoc will draw very bad attention and it will likely get him killed. Keep him safe, Harry.”

Harry’s mind was spinning from Louis’ unexpected potential, and the truth behind his clan. Never in a million years would Harry have suspected Louis had that much power lying dormant within himself, but it was comforting for Harry to remember that the Ashen had been knotted by and Zayn and him already. It meant Louis would always be theirs. Even if his dominance overpowered their own, he’d always feel the love they shared together. And something like that might just pull him back from the darkness he could be susceptible to.

“With my life,” Harry professed; fear at an all-time high, but determination right up there with it.

 

\---

 

Harry shifted to his wolf and followed the scent of his little pack until he came to a den they sometimes used for mating. His nose easily picked up on the unmistakable scent of the very act currently underway, and he slid down into the den to find the sight he knew he would see. Louis had knotted Niall.

The two idiots were standing butt to butt and whining any time the other would move too far. _You look ridiculous,_ Harry laughed in their heads. _You’re supposed to lower yourselves down and roll to the side. Or this happens. Zayn, didn’t you tell them anything?_

The big black wolf huffed from his laying position next to Liam and shook his head. _You think they were listening to us?_

 _How the fuck do you do this?_ Louis demanded, trying to walk away and halting when Niall yelped at him.

 _Don’t pull me,_ the white wolf begged, scrambling to keep their ends together.

It was going to be a long night.


	8. Nikita

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Threesome, aye.

It was finally now the last night of the cycle; not that Louis had been wishing for it to end, he’d been having the time of his life...but he definitely needed to talk to his parents. The pack members were relaxing in their usual cave and awaiting the setting of the sun to commence their final run together before next month.

Louis had knotted Niall in their human forms earlier today to the lustful watching of their brothers, and the blonde was now sporting his fourth mark upon his neck. Louis was relieved that he didn’t have to worry about being the lowest ranking member anymore, and he frequently sought Niall out to growl in his face and watch approvingly as the Omega sunk to his knees in submission.

Louis wasn’t taking his dominance lightly, and he may be going a bit overboard, but Niall couldn’t complain. Even if he wanted to.

Liam and him hadn’t made any advancements on each other yet, but that fight for dominance would probably ensue eventually. Although, it did seem like the group was starting to section itself. Liam and Niall tended to go off by themselves lately, and the other three were getting more enraptured and secluded with their own trio.

Which was being proven right now as the two superior wolves took it upon themselves to strive tonight for the infamous double knotting. Well, Louis could only assume that’s what they were going for because they were both giving him an overwhelming amount of simultaneous attention.

“Louis?” Harry murmured against Louis’ neck as Zayn was kissing down his stomach.

“Mmmyeah?” he moaned, arching his back and sneaking an innocent look into Harry’s eyes.

“Don’t give me that, you dirty boy. You know exactly what we want,” Harry scolded, grabbing one of Zayn’s hands and intertwining their fingers. “How do you want him, Zayn?”

“I’ll take behind,” the black-haired wolf said as he licked his lips and barked at Liam to get his bag.

Liam did as he was told even though he didn’t have to, simply because he wasn’t about to slow these two down from their mating-crazed course. He tossed the bag in question and returned to his Niall, showering him in kisses and prepping him for his knot while they waited.

Harry kept Louis in place until Zayn was flat on his back, manhandling the pup to lie down on top of Zayn, and spreading his legs so Harry could get him ready. Harry grunted to Zayn unintelligibly but somehow the request was perfectly understood, and Zayn pulled the back of Louis’ knees up so Harry had full access.

Louis was getting a bit nervous but he trained his eyes on the ceiling of the cave and bit his lip when Harry’s lubed fingers pushed past his entrance. He whimpered through the sensation and tried to mentally coach himself that he could take two knots without a problem. He remembered Niall’s blissed out condition when he was full of Zayn and Liam from that first morning, and Louis wanted to prove he could do the same.

Niall was the most submissive out of all of them without contest…and _hopefully_ that had nothing to do with his ability to take multiple knots; but either way, Louis was not going be surpassed. Least of all not by someone whom he’s already knotted.

Louis barked to Harry that he was ready, and Zayn rubbed at the puppy’s arms while Harry slicked up Zayn’s cock to help make getting into Louis easier. Zayn shuddered and reached down to try and maneuver himself into the impatient wolf, but Harry scoffed at them before they could even try.

“Why are you two making it so difficult? Louis, get up here,” Harry ordered.

Louis groaned but sat up with the help of Zayn’s hands against his back, and scooted his knees closer to Harry. The older wolf wrapped his arms around him and lifted him just enough off of Zayn’s pelvis that the black-haired wolf could see what he was doing.

Louis threw his arms around Harry’s neck while he was there, and he got a comforting squeeze in return. The peace didn’t last long though, because then he felt Zayn’s cock pressing against his hole, and he tensed for the inevitable thrust he would be given.

However it didn’t happen quite like that, and instead Harry broke free and placed his hands on the pup’s shoulders, lightly pushing him onto the cock he was hovering over. “Sit down,” he huskily commanded, leaning back and smirking as he watched his brother’s cock slowly disappear into the whining Louis.

“Look at him, he did it all by himself. So good,” Zayn praised, sitting all the way up when Louis was fully seated on his pelvis. He snaked an arm Louis’ torso to hold him steady and used his other hand on the ground for leverage as he gently moved in and out of the submissive.

“He is,” Harry agreed, growling appreciatively and nuzzling into Louis’ neck. “You’re doing really well, Lou. I’m very proud of you. Are you ready for me yet?” he taunted, staring into the wolf’s eyes as he traced his sweet lips with his thumb. The younger wolf batted his eyelashes and parted his lips just enough to take Harry’s thumb into his mouth and suck on it greedily.

Harry’s jaw dropped and he groaned at the sight of Louis’ apparent desperation. According to Zayn’s testimony of their mating, Harry was still the only one that knew of Louis’ pain kink, but everyone else would find out momentarily. That’s just why he wasn’t worried in the slightest; while Zayn was taking things slow and being really careful with Louis, Harry saw in the Ashen’s eyes how much he truly wanted to be abused.

And who was he to deny a submissive of their delicious pain?

Harry grinned devilishly and shoved the couple down onto their backs while he climbed up to get in position between both of their legs.

“Harry, be gentle with him,” Zayn said defensively, attempting to "soothe" the wolf with kisses to his hair.

Louis however, did not need soothing. He hadn’t said much this whole time because he was content in taking it all in as it was given, but he figured he’d better speak now to let Zayn in on his little secret.

Harry beat him to it, though. “You don’t know him like I do,” the leader said mysteriously, squirting lube on his hand and giving his pulsing cock a few tugs.

“What do you mean?” Zayn asked.

“I mean our Louis here is a freaky little slut. He needs pain if he’s to be truly satisfied. Isn’t that right, you kinky puppy?” Harry goaded, licking into Louis’ mouth before he could even respond.

“I should have known,” Zayn moaned, overly pleased with this information.

Louis ripped away from Harry’s amazing kiss and growled out in frustration. “Hurry up,” he panted, trying to pull Harry in with one of his legs. “I need the both of you. Now.”

“Of course, my Queen,” Harry relented, touching the already filled hole with the head of his cock and waiting for Zayn to pull out enough so they could go in together. “This might hurt a lot,” he happily warned.

Niall and Liam’s attention was definitely grabbed when Louis’ scream pierced through the air and reverberated off of the rock walls of the cave. Looking over, Niall saw that his brother Louis was in-between Harry and Zayn and evidently getting filled by them both. _Lucky_ , he thought to Louis’ mind only.

Louis didn’t answer of course, but that was alright. After one more amused look, Niall gave himself back to Liam who had sped up his hips in response to the rough mating that was occurring just a few metres away.

Louis was floating in a heaven of pleasurable agony, if you can understand that. Harry hadn’t waited very long before he pushed in to bottom out completely, and Zayn was obviously added to that. Louis almost couldn’t believe that he actually had two people inside of him, but when they started thrusting their hips simultaneously, let’s just say it became credible.

“You’re so tight, puppy,” Zayn cooed, running his hands down Louis’ chest. “It’s almost hard to fuck you like this. I don’t know if our knots are gonna fit.”

“Oh, they’ll fit,” Harry assured, gripping onto Louis’ hips to stay grounded from the maddening ecstasy. “Who do you belong to?” he spoke against Louis’ wrist that he’d lifted to scent.

“You and Zayn,” Louis obediently replied, earning appreciative growls from both wolves and arching his back from the powerful sounds.

The older wolves silently communicated to each other for a switch of position, and before Louis could register what was happening, he was suddenly plastered against Harry’s chest and Zayn was thrusting in on top of him. Louis screeched from all the rough movements, but Harry shushed his cries with a ringed hand over his mouth, bucking his hips up while Zayn timed both of them to be perfectly in sync.

Zayn was running his claws all over Louis’ back and lapping at the blood that was spilling out, and Harry did the same to the Ashen’s thighs. Louis was whining and sobbing, but neither dominant heard even a starting hiss of the word ‘silver,' so they showed no mercy.

Eventually they felt their knots begin to expand, so amidst Louis’ anguished groans, they both sat up and moved everyone’s legs around accordingly until they could have Louis sitting up straight in-between them. Harry attacked the front of Louis’ neck while Zayn covered the back, and they ran their hands all over every area of skin Louis had.

Louis was busy trying not to scream again, but the pain of two knots slowly expanding at once was indescribable, and he didn’t understand how Niall could be so used to it. However, once again, beyond that pain awaited a world so full of insurmountable gratification, that he yelled at them to hurry up.

The Alphas chuckled and shoved Louis even further down onto their cocks as their knots finally popped, giving Louis the orgasm of his dreams. He cried out and painted Harry’s chest with his release as Harry sunk his teeth into the wolf’s shoulder. Zayn took the same spot on the other side, and Louis let his head fall back onto Zayn’s shoulder while he was held in place by the dominant lycans.

The wolves’ teeth stayed embedded in his neck while their seed was endlessly flowing into Louis, not having a fighting chance to leak out because of how locked their knots were. The blue-eyed wolf was close to passing out from the exhausting experience, so the wolves pulled their teeth out and gently laid all of them on their sides.

Louis was stuffed beyond imagination, and being crushed between their chests was the best place he could ever hope to be. “My masters,” he whined as they tightened their arms around him and licked at their bites.

“This is what it’s like to be truly owned, Louis. You belong to us, and we will always take care of you and give you everything you ask for,” Zayn said as Harry nodded and took hold of Louis’ face to smash their lips together.

“No matter what, you’ll always come back to us. Remember you always have a home here,” Harry added when he disconnected the kiss.

“What do you mean?” Louis asked tiredly, looking forward to getting a nap in before the moon was high in the sky. “Where would I go?”

“Nowhere, Lou. You’re not going anywhere,” Harry said firmly, sharing a worried look with Zayn over Louis when he closed his eyes.

“You’re family,” Zayn added, closing his own eyes because a nap didn’t sound like a terrible idea. “We’ll always be here.”

Niall and Liam scooted over to cuddle up with their brothers and Louis reached the only hand he could out to hold onto Niall’s. “We love you too, Lou,” the blonde professed.

“Yeah, please remember that,” Liam said passionately.

Liam and Niall knew that Louis was Ashen, but only Harry and Zayn knew exactly what that _meant_ , because Harry had told Zayn the first chance he got. The only wolf who didn’t even know what Ashen was happened to be the last surviving member himself, but nobody wrongly assumed that they could keep it from him forever.

Louis chuckled at all of their intense declarations because he didn’t understand them, and he sighed with pure bliss in his warm cocoon of mates. “You guys are crazy,” he yawned, snuggling in and surrendering to sleep.

 

\---

 

~~~

 

“Shit, do you hear that?” Norman asked, referring to the sound of a car outside their house.

“Louis?” Johannah asked hopefully, getting up and running to the window.

They peeked through the curtains and were ecstatic to find it was their son, but they also witnessed something pretty unexpected.

Louis was getting pushed up against the car and heavily kissed by a tall, curly-haired wolf. It was pretty obvious that this was a pack of wolves, and they were all showering him with affection.

His parents quickly looked away when Louis grabbed a blonde by the neck to make out with while a black-haired boy ran his hands up his shirt, and easily decided to give them their privacy. They walked back into the dining room to sit patiently until Louis was done with his highly inappropriate goodbyes. He’d have to come in some time.

 

~~~

 

Louis held onto the door handle with a thousand worries and a negative amount of prepared words. He had questions, but how to ask them. He had demands, but how to make them…

He decided standing outside would do absolutely nothing, so let out a sigh and pushed it open, stepping into what could potentially turn into World War III.

The first thing he noticed when he walked inside was the unfortunate smell he was forced to take in. It wasn’t _awful_  per se, but it certainly wasn’t that of his own scent. Everything smelled out of place and unfamiliar, and he didn’t like it.

He kicked his shoes off and walked down the hallway, deciding to stop by the dining room just in case. Lo and behold, there were his parents, sitting at the table and wringing their hands together, looking like they’d been sitting there for the last three days.

Louis made a straight line with his lips and carefully sat down, taking in their awkward auras and deciding to break the ice himself. “You guys smell terrible,” he noted, scrunching up his nose and rubbing it with his palm.

His parents thankfully laughed, and it seemed like a weight had been lifted off the conversation. A weight—not _the_ weight— _a_ weight.

“We smell human,” Johannah replied, giving Louis a soft and encouraging smile.

“Yeah…okay, so exactly how long have you known I was a lycan?” he asked in a harsher tone, unwilling to beat around the bush any longer. The elephant in the room was starting to shit all over the carpet, and _someone_ needed to mention it or it was going to stain.

“Since you were an infant,” Johannah replied as Norman put an arm around her waist.

Louis was shocked to hear they’d known for such a long time, but the alternative of them figuring it out recently was even stranger, so he accepted it. Although… “How did you know me as an infant?”

“We knew your parents,” Norman responded, both adoptive parents getting a faraway and solemn look on their faces. “They were friends of ours…we didn’t get to know them as much as we would have liked, and when they were dying, we promised them we’d look after you,” he finished in a rush, dreading Louis’ appalled reply.

“When they were dying…so they are dead,” Louis said softly, looking down into his lap.

“Yes, Louis, they are,” Johannah murmured regretfully.

“How did they die?”

Johannah didn’t seem to want to answer the question, but she knew she didn’t have a choice. Louis deserved to know. “They were killed.”

Louis’ eyes went wide and his head shot up to stare his other parents down. “By who?” he asked despairingly.

“Hunters,” Norman immediately gritted.

Louis gave a short, emotionless laugh and ran his hands through his hair, holding back any possible tears to get the facts first. “What were their names?”

“Anastasia and Dmitri,” Johannah informed, steeling herself for the inevitable origin question.

“Anastasia…and Dmitri? That’s—”

“Russian, Louis. Yes. You were from Russia,” Johannah nodded, finally meeting her son’s eyes.

“Russia…” Louis repeated in shock, “But…but I don’t even know the language. I know nothing about Russia,” he said offendedly. He didn’t much appreciate being deprived every part of his heritage before he’d even had the chance to learn.

“We would have taught it to you if we’d known it. We’re sorry, but it was safer for you to grow up American,” Johannah whimpered, Norman taking over for a while to give her a break.

“You’re going to ask how we knew them and what we were doing in Russia, so I’ll tell you before you have to,” said Norman, placing his elbows on the table and pleading Louis to keep an open mind with his eyes.

“We were visiting the country, and we got lost trying to find a bank or something like that, and your parents found us and showed us the way. We ended up getting lunch together, and for a month or so, we continued to spend time with each other. Sometimes it was a movie dates, other times the park…” he trailed off, knowing the minor details were inconsequential.

“— And then they were attacked…and we found them…they didn’t have much time left, so they told us to take you, and we did. We’d grown quite fond of you already. It wasn’t easy for anybody, but it was the way it had to be, Louis,” Norman finished, giving his son well deserved time to process it.

Louis had a lot of things he wanted to say about that, but only one thing was front and center in his mind. “My name’s not Louis, is it?”

“It _is_ Louis—” Johannah said firmly, holding up a hand when Norman went to interrupt her, “—but…it wasn’t always Louis,” she admitted carefully.

“What’s my name?” he demanded.

“Your name was Nikita,” Norman revealed, praying that Louis won’t start going by that title now. It would make him scarily easier to find.

“Nikita…” he repeated thoughtfully.

“We’re sorry we didn’t tell you,” Johannah said quietly.

“Yeah, why _didn’t_ you tell me?” he yelled, regretting it when his parents both flinched. They had to know he wouldn’t ever hurt them, right?

Johannah balled her fists and admirably found her courage to shout right back at him. “Because! You wouldn’t have even believed us if we’d told you. ‘Oh hey, Louis, at some point you’re going to turn into a wolf. Don’t worry, it’s totally natural.’ Do you honestly think that would have gone over well?” she challenged reasonably.

“Well, it would have been nice to have a heads-up. Maybe it would have come in handy,” he grumbled, understanding her point but striving to stay mad because it felt better.

“Well…judging by what we just saw outside, you seem to have found your kind,” Johannah said hesitantly, not really wanting to admit she’d witnessed that.

“Uhhh yeah,” Louis admitted awkwardly, “I guess.”

“There was no easy way to do this,” Norman piped to divert them back to the original subject.

“You could have at least told me about my parents,” Louis negated, still trying to get over the fact that his entire life was a lie. “You could have told me what happened to them, you _said_ you _didn’t know_!”

“Louis, I know. That was a mistake. But on the other hand, whatever we would have said about how they died would have been a lie. We knew we would tell you eventually—when you turned. We would try to explain everything then, and here we are,” Norman said defensively, outstretching his arms to make a point. “We just had a while to wait.”

“You’re not too mad at us…are you, Louis?” Johannah asked with a wavering tone.

“I—” he trailed, dropping his head and heaving a defeated sigh. Louis wanted to stay furious, he really did, but he just couldn’t stand to see his adoptive Mother cry. “— No. I’m not. I don’t think it’s unreasonable for me to be upset, though. The full moon starts bugging the shit out of me, and before I know it, I’m turning into an animal for three nights straight. What if I’d gone through all of that alone? I was lucky my superiors found me at work, or I wouldn’t have had anyone.”

“You would have found a pack nearby. They would have found you. We figured there was one up in these woods, and when we didn’t hear back from you, we knew they’d found you,” Johannah said calmly.

“Yeah, that’s a lot of ‘what if’s, Louis. Everything was okay,” Norman added needlessly.

“I guess... Why did we move around all the time? You never even gave me a chance for a pack to find me.”

“Ah,” Johannah chimed in disappointment. Here comes the hard part. “Because there were and _are_ hunters...looking for you.”

“What,” Louis choked, his world temporarily stopping with this information.

“We took you…not only to raise you like we promised, but to keep you safe…from the hunters that killed your parents,” Norman explained, not really explaining all that much, though.

“Why would they still want me?” he asked fearfully.

“Because they knew you existed,” Johannah replied, reaching over the table to hold Louis’ hand.

Louis stood before she could touch him and promptly spiralled into a panic. “Where are they? Have they been following us? Do they know where we are?” he squeaked, looking around the room like they might be hiding in the hallways.

“No, we don’t think so. We’ve heard whispers of their whereabouts every so often, and we’ve left every time. We have every reason to believe they don’t know what you look like yet. They won’t know just by looking at you what you are. But if they find us…they’ll find you. So it might be best for—” Johannah paused, swallowing the lump in her throat before she finished the sentence, “—for you to move out.”

“Yeah, sure. And leave you unprotected?” he asked pointedly.

“We would probably be fine,” Johannah sighed, not at all willing to dive into why.

“How?” Louis pressed as expected.

“We’re…good fighters,” Norman supplied vaguely, trying to remember what Johannah and him had decided on telling him.

“ _Good fighters_?” Louis laughed incredulously. “You two dweebs? _Really_?”

“You don’t need to worry about us, Lou,” Johannah deflected. “You only need to worry about yourself. Ask your pack about potential hunters in the area. Learn everything you can. We should probably speak to your Alpha as well,” she added thoughtfully.

“Yeah, he wants to speak to you guys. I guess I could call Harry and ask,” Louis mused, pushing in his empty chair when he felt the conversation nearing its end. Naturally, or otherwise.

“Just _please_ be careful. Now that you know, watch out for any…Russians? I mean if you’re in a store, and you get approached by a Russian, odds are you should probably run away. But again, they won’t know you’re a lycan. You have cover. But not if you’re with us—they know who we are,” she said bitterly.

“What makes you two so important?” he asked suspiciously, studying their facial expressions like a sociologist.

“Because they saw you with us,” Norman said flatly, not leaving room for discussion.

“Okay,” Louis said tiredly, throwing his hands up in surrender. “I can tell there are huge chunks you’re leaving out of this shit…but I’ve heard about all I can take for one day, so I’m just gonna mull this over and go to bed. I’m really fucking exhausted,” he muttered, finally taking his coat off and wrapping it around the top of the chair.

“I knew you would be,” Johannah agreed, standing up and pushing in her chair as well.

“Oh, you have no idea. Absolutely no idea. What I’ve gone through these last few days. But thank you for understanding,” he said rudely, making his way out of the room but stopping just before he would exit, looking back over his shoulder to speak more nicely to them. “Guys…you _are_ my parents. Don’t ever think that I don’t think that. You’re all I’ve ever known, and I love you. Okay?”

“We’re so happy to hear that, Nikita. Because we only ever wanted the best for you, and for you to find happiness. Ana and Dmitri would be so proud of you, and that’s a fact,” Johannah promised through sudden tears.

“Call me Louis,” the wolf responded with the tiniest smile, finally leaving the area and walking down the hallway, adding a shouted thought right before he reached his room: “And get rid of that fucking silverware!”

Johannah and Norman chuckled at the demand after his door slammed, and set on taking it all out of the drawers. “He’s gonna get stronger than the silver,” Norman noted, turning a fork every which way in his hand as he studied it closely.

“Let’s let _him_ figure that out…” Johannah said quietly, knowing their son’s ears were far superior to their own by now. “He’s gotten taller.”

“His voice is deeper too,” Norman added, smiling fondly as he collected all the silverware and threw it into a box to heave on top of the fridge. “More muscle definition, looks older in general, he’s certainly not wearing his glasses...lot of changes, but he’s still our Louis. I’d say that went well, all things considered.”

“ _So_ much better than I expected, oh my god,” Johannah wheezed in relief.

“We’ve gotta talk to that Alpha, Jo.”

“Yeah. He probably already knows,” she guessed while she stared out the window in deep contemplation.

“Let’s ask Louis about the Alpha when he wakes up. Come on, we’ve got some napping to do ourselves,” Norman announced, taking her hand and leading her out of the kitchen.

They passed by Louis’ room and were amused to hear particularly loud snoring coming from inside. Johannah slightly shook her head and breathed a sigh of sympathy for their lycan son. “My poor little Louis.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm sorry that I went with the Russian stereotype of being villains, but that's not what this is at all. To me, Louis has always looked like he had a Russian face. I can't explain it, but he looks like a very Russian beauty to me in the eyes, so it was easy and automatic to have him originate there. Russians are not evil haha. Don't take it the wrong way.


	9. Downward Spiral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *slaps Louis on the wrist*

The next few weeks proved to be a barrage of unexpected events. To kick it off, even though they were distancing, now that Louis and Liam were on complete equal ranks, that bumped Zayn above Liam. As one could guess, this did indeed mean that Zayn had succeeded in his lifetime goal of knotting Liam, which he hadn’t let anyone forget since it happened.

Zayn was finally satisfied with their dynamic, now that the three year long fight for dominance had come to an end. Liam wasn’t that disappointed because he’d respected Zayn from the start, and at least he still had his little Niall to prove his worth to.

On the other side of the spectrum, Harry and Zayn had their Louis to themselves, so the five wolves had fully separated into two groups, but they still lived together in peace.

Louis had moved out of his adoptive parents’ house just like they’d suggested, and made his home the hotel instead. He stored all of his stuff in Harry’s bedroom since they rarely ever used it because they preferred the main room beds.

Louis still talked to his parents as much as he could through his phone, but he had to admit he’d been a bit homesick at first. He was busy learning the ins and outs of pack life and making acquaintances here and there, but he still didn’t connect with anyone like he did with _his_ wolves. Which was to be expected.

The other thing Louis noticed progressing was his anger. It was hard to explain such an egregious thing, but he’d noticed it completely taking control of his mind and body time to time. He never let his brothers see the destructive outbursts, always resorting to flee into the forest and break all the trees he could with his increased strength and speed until he settled down enough to return home and act like nothing happened.

Harry and Zayn almost couldn’t keep up with him anymore, and when the full moon rolled around, they’d discovered that Louis was a much larger size in his wolf than they’d remembered. They voiced their concerns about the Ashen’s evolving power and anger to Jareth, so the Alpha had in turn contacted Louis’ adoptive parents to set up a much needed meeting with them. It had yet to take place.

Louis had tried to fight the negative impulses as long as he could at first, because it had scared him...but he unfortunately lost the battle in himself when he realized he was becoming undeniably addicted to letting it out. Giving in was like a drug to him, and the comedowns he’d endure were nothing compared to the psychotic demands of full withdrawal. So he always gave in.

The first red flag was at school. Louis was very intentionally picking fights at school to let his rage flow when it needed to. Holding it back entirely was becoming a bit out of the question, as previously mentioned, so he figured that as long as he did it away from the pack, he would be safe from suspicious eyes.

He’d only had a second of regret that he’d taken it out on his only friend Stan, but the rush of anger he’d released had been an almost sensual experience to him, so he hadn’t stopped.

To explain, Louis was now physically stronger than before by a long shot, so he went to an early morning football practice before school just to show them how amazing he could be, even though he knew he was only going to quit anyway. After smashing the practice and leaving everyone speechless, he’d nonchalantly announced that he was quitting the team, needless to say without giving a reason why. Stan hadn’t liked this very much, and he’d decided to challenge him on it. Louis doesn’t feel as good looking back at it, but at the time it had been glorious.

 

~~~

 

_“Welp, I’m quitting,” Louis said, bending down to collect his water bottle and make his way off the field._

_“Now, wait just a second,” Stan called, jogging around to stand in front of him and block his path. The rest of the team walked over to form a circle around them as they awaited his explanation. “You miss a shit load of practices, and then you come back hella good for some odd reason, and now you’re just quitting? You don’t think we deserve a bit of acknowledgement? You’ve been acting really weird lately, Louis. Like a total douchebag, if I’m being honest.”_

_“Get out of my way, Stan,” Louis warned, a fire brewing in his heart as its smoke spread through his nervous system, coating everything it passed in the seething colour of red. “I don’t have the time to be fucking around with football when I could be focusing on important things.”_

_“The fuck is your problem, mate?” Stan spat, inviting himself into Louis’ space and nearly pressing their chests together. “You’re so different. And nobody likes it, but especially not me. I oughta clock you one,” he threatened._

_“Do it,” Louis begged._

_Not to say Stan didn’t question Louis’ unexpected desperation, but he was overcome with aggression too, so he accepted the request and let a meaty fist fly._

_Louis subsequently struck out so quick that he was almost a blur to the team. They didn’t know what happened until Louis had Stan on the ground and was beating him senseless. The malicious punches that were being cracked into Stan’s face were anything but a regular fight between two young adults; Louis was acting like he wanted to kill him, and the team members knew they needed to intervene somehow, but they were deathly afraid of getting caught in the wrath of their formerly polite Louis._

_The coach ran over as soon as the actual fight started. He hadn’t thought the common squabbling was going to get so drastic, and he deeply regretted that assumption when he caught a glance at the condition of Stan. Coach Brady put every ounce of strength he had into pulling Louis off, barking at his student team to help him before eye sockets were shattered._

_Louis growled as he was pried from his victim, thrashing against the constricting arms and kicking kneecaps to try and break free. It was fruitless with all the manpower against him, considering he couldn’t show his true strength or he could risk exposing his species by doing so._

_Louis threw an elbow into the face right behind him, and his eyes widened when he discovered it was their coach, but he still couldn’t quite control himself yet. He fisted coach Brady’s shirt and let his formidable fist crash into the older man’s face. The only things that got him to stop were the looks of unadulterated terror from every single player on the team, regarding him like a rabid dog...which he supposed isn’t too far off the mark._

_Louis stumbled backward and grabbed his bag off the ground, not sparing a glance at Stan’s unconscious and bloody form, and wordlessly walking toward the school before he accidentally turned around and knocked all of them out._

 

_~~~_

 

Louis had spent the next two of his classes cooling down and slowing his heart rate, doing his absolute best to push the beast back down and far away from the surface it had clawed its way out of. This rage of his was starting to really scare him, and he feared if he didn’t learn to control it soon, taking a life might honestly be a reasonable worry to have.

Third class was the second red flag. He’d been sitting in Sociology when Mr. Kloss called on him to read a section from the textbook about the self and emotions as social control. Louis had cleared his throat and tilted the book down on the edge of the desk, letting it rest on against his stomach as he followed each line with his finger.

 

~~~

 

_“Much of our socialization is intended to turn us into conforming members of society. Socialization into the self and emotions is essential to this process, for both the self and our emotions mold our behavior. Although we like to think that we are “free,” consider for a moment just some of the factors that influence how you—WOULD YOU SHUT UP, PLEASE?” he suddenly yelled at a boy a few rows over who had been quietly talking amongst his friends. It’s not his fault his ears pick up a pin dropping on the floor._

_The boys all looked at Louis in disbelief, and the wolf held their gazes for several heavy seconds before slowly returning to his book to continue the section._

_“... —how you act: the expectation of your friends and partners, of neighbors and teachers; classroom norms and college rules; city, state, and federal laws. For example, if in a moment of intense frustration, or out of a devilish desire to shock people, you wanted to tear off your clothes and run naked down the street, what would stop you?”_

_Louis twitched in anger when he noticed the exact same boys had dove straight back into their loud-to-him whispered conversation, and he casually stood from his seat as he continued to read flawlessly, never stopping once. He walked with the book all the way to the perpetrator’s desk to stand right next to him and finish the passage in peace; considering they were all dumbfounded by his uncharacteristic actions._

_“The answer is your socialization—society within you. Your experiences in society have resulted in a self that thinks along certain lines and feels particular emotions. This helps to keep you in line. Thoughts such as ‘Would I get kicked out of school?’ and ‘What would my friends (parents) think if they found out?’ represent an awareness of the self in relationship to others. So does the desire to avoid feelings of shame and embarrassment. Your social mirror, then—the result of your being socialized into a self and emotions—sets up effective internal controls over your behavior. In fact, socialization into self and emotions is so effective that some people feel embarrassed just thinking about running naked in public.”_

_Louis finished the paragraph with a satisfied smile on his face and conclusively slapped the book closed with both of his hands._

_Before the teacher could thank him for reading, and additionally suggest he return to his seat now, Louis had reared back and swung the book like a baseball bat straight into the face of the boy he had been hovering over. The boy cried out as the force knocked him and his chair backward, sending both clattering to the ground._

_Blood was gushing from the boy’s broken nose, and Louis fought the urge to lick it off his book, settling instead to wipe it off with the sleeve of his shirt. The boy’s friends were tending to him as best they could, but he no doubt needed professional medical attention, so there wasn’t much they could do...and plus, they didn’t want to get too close to the culprit who’d done it._

_“Louis!” Mr. Kloss screeched, running around his podium to approach the situation, but freezing where he stood when Louis’ murderous eyes trained on him like he was prey…and next. The ominous smirk and lip bite the professor received was enough to give him nightmares for the next month, and the Dean’s secretary couldn’t have come at a better time._

_“Louis Tomlinson?” the slim woman in a red pencil skirt that didn’t quite work for her called, holding a clipboard and wearing a misplaced, condescending expression on her aging face. “Is there a Louis in here?”_

_“Yeah, that’s me,” Louis said cooperatively, returning to his desk to put all his supplies in his backpack, sliding the bloodied book in last and throwing it all over his shoulder. He had a pretty good idea what this was about._

_“The Dean wants to speak with you, Louis,” she said tensely, finally taking a more in-depth look around the room and noticing the aftermath of chaos that the boy seemed to have caused. “About some trouble with football practice, although I might have to add this to the list.”_

_Louis approached her with no complaints, giving daring looks to his classmates and wobbly-legged professor on the way out, and strutting down the hall ahead of the nervous woman who fretfully trailed along. They walked in uncomfortable silence all the way to the Dean’s office on the other side of campus from where they’d departed, but soon enough they were outside the office and Louis was itching in anticipation for the inevitable clusterfuck that was awaiting him just behind the doors._

_What he actually found changed his mind pretty quickly about challenging the Dean, because the campus police had apparently been called, and four of the greasy bastards were stood around Dean importantly, like they’d be able to protect him if it came down to it._

_Louis didn’t want to prolong this bullshit any further, because one wrong move and the real human police would get involved, and that was not something he needed to deal with. “Yeah, I quit,” he announced, deciding this was his only option that included dignity in its finale._

_“You quit?” the Dean repeated, his assistant scurrying past Louis and joining him behind his desk._

_“Yeah. Drop out. Whatever. Goodbye,” he said with a wave of his hand, turning to walk out of the smelly office._

_“Why?” the Dean called after him, but Louis was already gone. He didn’t bloody need school, he could make it without a degree just fine, plenty of people do. He made a stop by the library to donate all of his textbooks back, he wouldn’t need them anymore, and ran to his car as fast as he could._

_He dropped his forehead onto the steering wheel as the weight of what he’d just done crashed down on top of him, and tears prickled his eyes from his highly regretful actions of the day. “What have I done?” he whined, shoving the key in and turning the car to life, zipping out of the parking lot and making an automatic beeline for the forest. “Fine,” he told his crazy wolf resolutely. “You can have me.”_

 

~~~

 

“Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Tomlinson,” Jareth said cordially, inviting them to sit down. He’d gotten in contact with the adoptive parents by phone and decided today was the best time for a meeting because Louis was nowhere to be found.

“Where is my Louis?” Johannah asked sadly, barely tolerating Norman’s comforting hand on her shoulder.

“We don’t know,” Jareth replied honesty, rushing to alleviate it when Johannah looked on the verge of tears. “He’s fine, don’t worry. Puppies often do this sort of thing, but with Louis, I know it’s more deeply rooted than that. I’d like you to tell me what you know. I can tell you’re hunters, I know them when I see them, so please be honest with me.”

Norman gulped and crossed his arms out of nerves, looking to Johannah to decide who would talk. Johannah seemed lost for words, so he took it upon himself. “We _were_ hunters. Were. We were the best in America, and we were called upon by the Organization to assist in the elimination of the Ashen Clan—”

“When we got to Russia—” Johannah interrupted, taking over the explanation, “—we met his parents. Louis was just an infant at the time. Nobody knew who the other one was, and against all odds, we became good friends. We were in Russia for a month before the call was made, and in the invasion of their underground passages, we happened upon them in a storage room. They’d been…” she trailed off, hating reliving this too much to say it in her own words.

“When we found them, they’d already been shot with silver bomb bullets," Norman said to take the heat off his wife. "Non-vital areas, but it was slowly filling their bloodstreams and they weren’t going to survive. They told us to take Nikita, Louis, and we did without a second thought. We fled the clan _and_ the Organization with the baby, and traveled back to America to raise him. Now the Organization is after us. We’ve moved around a lot, and we really want to stay here, but we shouldn’t be too intertwined with the wolves of this pack, considering the price on our heads we are carrying with us,” he said, running through everything in his mind and checking if he missed anything important.

“What I want to know is how his parents controlled their anger. Ashen hated humans more than anything, so it doesn’t make any sense to me how they were able to befriend you. That clan was anger driven and was completely uncontrollable because of it. Louis is showing signs of turning out in much the same way, and I’m going to have to do something about his anger before it kills someone... Why would he get the signature Ashen rage and not his parents?” Jareth mused in frustration, getting up and clasping his hands behind his back as he glared out the window in thought.

“I’m not sure why Ana and Dmitri were so kindhearted, but they did issue a warning as they gave us their Louis,” Johannah noted, trying to remember it word for word.

“I’m listening,” Jareth drawled, turning from the window to regard the Mother with curiosity.

“They told us to be careful of him, and to tell him that he’s in control. They said something along the lines of, ‘he’s going to be angry, but it doesn’t have to be like that. Help him fight, he’s not going to think he can’ or something like that. Very similar, whatever they said,” she informed, looking to Norman to see if she forgot anything.

Norman nodded his head and met the Alpha’s shocked eyes. “We can only assume this means that the Ashen rage is able to be repressed by the strength of one’s will. Do you think Louis seems capable of this?”

Jareth chuckled and shook his head, sitting down and mulling over the new information. “So Ashen was controlled by evil intentions and cataclysmically violent outbursts that they could have _refused_ …but why would they? They had all the power in the world…I see…”

“Alpha? I’m sorry, but I need to know about Louis,” Johannah said impatiently, but as politely as she could manage.

“Of course,” Jareth replied, saving his thoughts for later. “Louis is gradually losing control, and I can’t see him gaining it by himself any time soon. He has nobody to understand him. However, there are many precautions and measures we can take. He has two superiors who have claimed him, and they will be of great help to him. The only help, really. It’s extremely lucky and good for us that he has them, or right now there’s a high chance he’d be unstoppable. We will do everything we can, okay? He needs to know this is possible, and he’ll need you to explain that to him. I think you’re the only ones he won’t attack when he’s given this information. I leave it to you.”

“Of course, we will tell him. We’ve lied to him enough already,” Norman said cynically, not very fond of his actions to date.

“It’s okay. You did what you had to do. He’s in good hands right now, and we'll do everything we can. Now go home before he gets here. We need to put some spells on him before we let him around you,” Jareth said, standing to hold the door open for them.

The parents gathered their stuff, but Johannah wasn’t quite ready to leave yet. “Spells?” she asked in confusion.

“Binding spells. To one of his superiors. Don’t worry, he will be safe,” Jareth replied surely.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done. Send him our way when you think he’s ready,” Norman said, shaking Jareth’s hand as he left the office.

“Goodbye,” the Alpha called as he shut his door, wiping his palm on his shirt in mild disgust and going back to his thought window, as he calls it. _Humans and their hand holding,_ he thought judgmentally, veering his thoughts back to the important topic. _He can stop it himself…how?_

 

~~~

 

Louis spent almost all night in the depths of the trees, snapping branches and destroying nature until he could finally relax and lay on the forest floor. He’d gazed at the starry sky for hours, pointedly ignoring the texts and calls he was receiving from who he assumed to be Harry and Zayn.

It wasn’t particularly that he hadn’t wanted to talk to them, rather that he didn’t know what to say. He would have to tell them eventually that he dropped out of school, but pardon him for wanting to prolong that conversation as long as possible.

He’d unintentionally fallen asleep there on the ground, and he’d awoken with a terrible backache, and a vicious head one to match. He’d had a staggering amount of mobile notifications, but the only thing he had really checked his phone for was the time. He’d shot up and ran to his work that he would have been late for, and spent five hasty and frantic minutes trying to clean himself in the bathroom sink before he took his place behind the counter.

Which is where he is now. The day had been going decently well until this receding-hairlined customer he’d served returned to the counter to harass him on the condition of his beverage.

“Excuse me,” the customer said in a nasally tone.

“Yes?” Louis replied tightly, knowing if he let himself lose control, he was likely going to be fired in the next thirty seconds.

“This is not fat-free milk.”

Louis closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Is it not?” he said patronizingly.

“No. It’s not. I can tell,” the man said snootily as he pushed his glasses higher on his nose.

“Well, what do you want me to do about it?” Louis asked boredly, finding more interest in his nails than the angry customer.

“Excuse me?” the customer asked in appallment. “I want you to make me another one!”

Louis raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the mouth breather and sighed to the ceiling. “How about I just give you a little coupon for next time? Or give you your money back.”

“No, I don’t want that. I have to be at the office soon, just give me another one,” Four-eyes said ragingly, slamming his hand down on the counter as if that would somehow spring Louis into action.

“Is fat-free milk really such a big deal?” Louis asked skeptically, moving his eyes up and down the customer’s egg-shaped body. “I mean, look at you.”

“I _beg your pardon_ ,” the round man squeaked, rapidly blinking his eyes and huffing as he tried to formulate what words to say.

“Surely that repulsive mouth of yours has got more than that,” Louis goaded with a wicked smile.

“Oh! This—this is—it’s unaccEPTABLE!” the customer screeched, making Louis chuckle at his pitiful attempt at being threatening. “You are a horrendous employee, just terrible, where’s your manager? MANAGER!” he screamed in such a high pitch that Louis finally snapped.

The wolf was endlessly tired of this man’s irritatingly loud voice, so he snatched the perfectly fine drink from the counter and popped the top off, swiftly emptying its contents directly onto the suited dingus.

“Why you!” the customer spluttered after the shock had passed. He held his elbows away from his soaked clothing and tried to scoop all the whipped cream off his tie.

Louis’ manager, Dennis, had unfortunately walked out from the back room when he’d heard the telltale wail of an unhappy customer, so he caught the end of Louis’ sugary coffee assault. “Louis,” he growled, stalking toward his employee like he was in a ring with him.

Louis looked over with the most bored look on his face, and he took his apron off because it was obvious where this was going. “He started it,” he said simply, dropping the apron on the counter and swerving around Dennis’ speechless form to walk through the back and get back out through the employee door.

When he got into the main area again, he saw Dennis shoveling napkins in the customer’s direction and apologizing profusely for the abuse he’d just experienced.

“Louis,” Dennis said warningly. “Apologize to this man.”

Louis smirked and walked with a bounce in his step to the busied customer, grabbing his shoulders and straightening him up to speak into his eyes. “I’m sorry for what I’m about to do,” he said mysteriously, catching Dennis’ horrified face in his peripheral.

“Wha—”

Louis cut the customer off with a fist in his face, knocking his blocky glasses right off his crow’s nose, and cackling when the man fell straight onto his butt.

“YOU’RE FIRED!” Dennis screeched in a frequency that rallied even that of fat-free milk man.

“What a surprise,” Louis said tonelessly as he walked out of the door for the last time. He jumped in his car and sped off before egg-man could do anything ludicrous like follow him.

He drove all the way to the forest in a daze, arriving to his favourite trees and falling to his knees as he recounted everything that had happened. It hit him like a ton of bricks that he’d lost his education and his job in the short span of forty-eight hours, but before he could cry about it, his phone vibrated in his pocket with an incoming call.

He reached in and yanked it out, dropping it onto the forest floor to inspect the number. Of course it was private, but he figured he’d better answer, so he slid the answer bar and lowered his head all the way to the phone on the ground. “Hello?”

“Louis Tomlinson?” the obvious man on the line gruffly asked.

“Most of the time,” he replied tiredly.

“Hmph. This is Howard Schultz. I’m the CEO of Starbucks.”

He seemed to pause to give Louis a chance really internalize that, but when the wolf said nothing and showed no interest, he continued, “I’ve just noticed quite the report concerning you from the Howler employees’ databank, and I’d like to make some things clear.”

“Well, that was fast,” Louis sighed, sitting up and bringing the phone with him. “I’ve already been fired, what more could you tell me?”

“Well, I can tell you that what you did today was completely unacceptable. I don’t care how young of a wolf you are, something like that is never going to be tolerated in any workplace. It was despicable, and you are hereby prohibited from ever working for my corporation again.”

“Oh you—you thought I _wanted_ to work in your dingy ass coffee shop?” Louis replied haughtily, a nervous sweat breaking out because he just couldn’t stop. It wasn’t his intention to give the billionaire CEO so much attitude, but he wasn’t calling the shots right now in his mind.

“ _Dingy_?” Howard repeated defensively, refusing to give the wolf any more satisfaction by trying to refute the insult. “That’s not all. I wanted to inform you that I will be tracking you from now on. Every CEO of every corporation you ever apply for the rest of your life will get a warning call from me personally. So you’d better learn to control yourself, or you’re never working again. Few more of these occurrences, and you’ll find yourself on the un-hirable list.”

“Is that all?” Louis snapped.

“Yes. Have a nice day,” the CEO bit back, hanging up the phone in a fit because there was apparently no getting through to this wolf.

Louis was seething, but he actually cheered up when he opened all of Harry and Zayn’s text messages. They were all worried sick, and slightly threatening to come looking for him if he didn’t return soon. Somehow just knowing Louis was being missed somewhere brightened his mood like nothing else could have, and he heaved himself off the ground to start the journey to his hotel.

 _At least I have them_ , he thought dreamily. _They’ll help me_.

 

\---

 

Louis sighed when his home was in view again, and he picked up the pace to reach it faster. He really had missed his masters, but he’d been so angry that he hadn’t been able to see reason for days now. He was unreasonably worried that they wouldn’t forgive him for running out like that, but if he knew them like he thinks he does, then everything would be alright.

He pushed through the large main doors and made a happy beeline for the elevator. A wolf he’d met before named Nick Grimshaw was coincidentally heading for the shaft as well, and Louis didn’t appreciate it when Nick walked in first without letting him do it instead.

“Well, excuse the fuck out of you,” Louis snapped, grabbing the back of Nick’s shirt and throwing him away from the elevator doors. He attempted to enter uninterrupted now, but Nick wasn’t happy either, and he took ahold of Louis’ ankle from his place on the ground and growled up at him.

Louis hadn’t watched much wrestling in his life, but there was this one thing he’d always wanted to try, and he figured this moment was likely the most perfect opportunity he’d ever get. He pivoted so that they were parallel, and prepared a bent elbow as he jumped into the air to come crashing down directly on top of the startled wolf.

Nick gave a short-lived howl when all of Louis’ weight was slammed on his body, topped off by the amazingly sharp elbow in his ribs. “What the fuck, Louis,” he gritted, rolling the wolf off of himself and trying to get the upper-hand.

Louis didn’t let this happen though, and the two became a disaster of rolling around on the ground and attracting all kinds of attention. Louis got even angrier when he saw the elevator had closed, and he’d lost his chance to get to his floor. “Look what you did! Now it’s gone,” he shouted, getting that eerie feeling again that he should stop, but he didn’t think he could.

“What do you—it’ll _be back_ , you lunatic! It’s an _elevator_ , not a train,” Nick reasoned, shoving at the wolf with all his might and standing up, Louis following suit and poising himself to attack again.

“Taking and wasting my time is unforgivable. You won’t live for this!” he growled, flying forward and knocking Grimshaw into the wall right next to the elevator doors. Louis put his forearm against the other wolf’s throat and brought their faces close so he could bark in his face.

Amidst the chaos, Nick was now met with Louis’ wolf’s eyes, and he had to blink several times to make sure he was seeing it right. “Your eyes,” he began, his face losing its anger and adopting confusion instead.

“Shut up!” Louis demanded, not giving a damn about his eyes.

“Louis…are you from the Ashen clan?”

Before Louis could ask what the fuck _that_ was supposed to mean, the elevator dinged and the doors opened to release Harry and Zayn, who took a frozen solid look at the situation before immediately springing into action.

“Louis!” Harry shouted in disbelief, both wolves throwing themselves into Louis and knocking him away from Nick, all the way to the ground.

Louis was instantly thrashing to get away from them and snapping his jaws quite viciously, so the leader knew what had to be done. “Gimme the leash!” Harry commanded of Zayn, who looked unsure that was necessary. “Zayn! He’s practically foaming at the mouth, give me the fucking leash!”

Zayn let one of his arms off of Louis to grab his bag so he could retrieve the coveted items. It was troublesome to accomplish because Louis’ strength was staggering, but Nick helped hold his legs down, and that’s probably the only reason they were able to handle the Ashen wolf at all.

Harry snatched the leash and collar from his brother and put more of his weight onto Louis so he could use his arms freely. Louis clearly didn’t like the sight of what was being insinuated, and he doubled his efforts to free himself, but so did the wolves who were holding him down.

Harry managed to steer clear of Louis’ teeth and get the collar behind his neck, frantically locking it around the front and attaching the leash in record time. Louis instantly relaxed and the other wolves heaved a sigh of exhausted relief. “Get his hands,” Harry said to Zayn, yanking Louis up into a sitting position with the leash.

With this situation, the rougher, the better. If Louis didn’t get discipline, he would never learn right from wrong. Harry never would have guessed that Louis would need puppy training when he first met him, but that was before he knew the wolf was Ashen.

Zayn got the lock mitts out and put them over Louis’ hands. Lock mitts were just banded wrist cuffs with little tough mitts on the ends so a wolf couldn’t effectively use their claws. The cuffs only had about a three inches of stretch in-between them, so Louis’ hands were now rendered useless.

Harry had Nick fasten the end of Louis’ leash to his wrist for him because Zayn was busy, and Louis sniffed curiously at Harry’s wrist when it was done. This was a specific master and puppy training collar; very rare to actually need, but unfortunately this case called for it. It just had a indestructible wrist cuff for the walker, so if the collared one tried to run, they wouldn’t escape like they might have been able to if the walker was merely holding the leash. Walker is a degrading term, but one that’s been around forever, so it’s still used today.

Nick left with encouraging words to Harry and Zayn, glaring at Louis before getting in the elevator and finally getting to his room—the only thing he’d wanted to do this whole damn time.

Louis was enraged that Nick won after all, and he sprinted forward to reach the wolf before the doors closed and protected him. Wrong move.

Harry threw his arm back and took Louis right with it, subsequently reaching forward and gripping the leash where it was closest to the collar, and yanking the Ashen all the way into his chest. Louis choked a bit, but a bruised neck was the least of their problems.

Harry then threw an arm around the front of Louis’ shoulders and pulled the collar down to expose his neck. “Fucking stop it,” he ordered, biting into the skin to gain some manner of control.

Louis gasped and leaned back into Harry, purring from finally being dominated like he’d needed to be for such a long time.

“Louis? Are you back yet?” Harry asked when he pulled his teeth back out, grabbing onto the leash again and pulling a bit to get his attention.

“Wha—?” Louis asked dreamily, like he was coming out of a coma and just now seeing the light. “Harry…”

“Do you think this will work?” Zayn asked Harry, referring to the leash and collar.

“It won’t be enough. We need the spell,” he responded, grinning when Louis snuggled into his side.

Louis didn’t understand what was being talked about, but this collar concept was sinfully enjoyable, and he surrendered himself to be manhandled by his superiors and led where they wanted him to go.

Where they wanted him to go turned out to be Jareth’s office. The Alpha cleared his throat when an intoxicated looking Louis was reeled into the room, and motioned for Harry and Zayn to set him down in a chair.

Once Louis was seated, Harry reluctantly removed all the things that bound him and set them on the desk, watching guardedly as Louis massaged his wrists and came back to full consciousness.

“Okay, what the fuck is going on?” Louis asked the room, squinting his eyes at Jareth even though he knew he shouldn’t be angry. “Why are you trying to control me?”

“Because you need it,” Jareth said sternly as Harry and Zayn both put a hand on each of Louis’ shoulders to hold him in place if he lost it.

“What’s the Ashen clan?” Louis demanded, remembering Nick’s cryptic question.

Jareth raised his eyebrows and his heart skipped a beat at the unexpected demand. “I can’t answer that question. That is up to your adoptive parents to tell you,” Jareth replied, even though withholding information was probably a bad idea at the moment.

“Why won’t anyone tell me anything?” Louis growled, smacking his superiors’ hands away and shooting up to his feet.

“Louis, please calm down,” Jareth said fearfully when Louis’ eyes flashed their signature wolf blue.

“Am I part of the Ashen clan? What the fuck are they? Who am I?” he snarled, slamming his hands down on Jareth’s desk and rumbling from his chest.

“Louis,” Jareth begged, making eye contact with Harry and Zayn and conveying in his face that he needed them to do something.

They made a valiant attempt, but Louis pushed them both with an unprecedented force, sending them flying into the bookshelves and falling to the ground. “My name. Is Nikita,” he roared, feeling an oncoming shift on the horizon and giving in to it willingly.

“Nikita?” Harry repeated, gasping when Louis fell to the ground and thrashed around from the insurmountable agony of shifting against the moon.

“Fuck, he’s turning?” Zayn squeaked, crawling across the floor to reach the screaming wolf. “What do we do?”

“We can’t stop it,” Harry said despairingly, reaching Louis as well and trying to hold him down.

“Well try!” Jareth demanded, staying as far away as possible because he had no right to be anywhere near him.

Louis rolled over onto his hands and knees, panting and screeching as he progressed. He was indescribably terrified, but the rush of power was too sweet to deny.

Harry was helpless to do anything but give him rubs down his back as he underwent what looked like utter torture. “Louis?” he tried, frowning when the wolf had no reaction. “Nikita?” he tried as a second thought. Harry was surprised when the wolf’s eyes immediately locked onto him, and the menacing look he received was so jarring that all his words died on his tongue.

Louis’ throat evolved into that of his wolf’s and a fierce roar ripped out into the office, probably alerting the whole floor that a turning was transpiring.

“How are we gonna explain this?” Harry shouted at Jareth, letting go of Louis when his bones started breaking. “Fuck,” he muttered, backing away and shooing at Zayn to do the same.

“He’s not gonna make it. Get the mage. Now! We don’t have much time,” Jareth shouted at Zayn, who nodded and flew out of the room, only needing to run halfway down the hall before he would reach her home.

“Are you going to take responsibility of him?” the Alpha asked Harry.

“I’ll do it,” Harry confirmed, regarding Louis with a look of utmost sympathy. “Even if he hates me for it. I found him first, I knotted him first. He’s mine.”

The mage had actually been running down the hall anyway because she heard the commotion, so she burst in the room as Zayn followed and locked the door behind them.

“Kira!” Jareth called as Louis erupted into his full wolf. “Now!”

The mage grabbed Harry’s wrist and began chanting in the olde language that Harry recognized, but didn’t understand. It didn’t take long before she pulled her hand away and there was a magical bind around his wrist. It was a silver-purplish hue and wispy like fog, but stronger than steel, and Harry turned his wrist every which way to observe the magic that surrounded it.

She continued chanting and from his wrist formed a thin line of the same substance. Once she got ahold of it, she took a deep breath and leaped onto Louis’ back, throwing her arms around his neck to form and close the collar.

Louis howled louder than should ever be necessary indoors, and Jareth slapped his hands over his ears as the sound pierced them. Now the entire tribe would definitely know exactly what was happening. Everyone knew that a wolf had turned; this was going to be a difficult thing to address.

Louis was jumping like a horse, trying his best to buck Kira off, but she was strong. She let out a screech as she put all of her strength into successfully locking the magical collar she’d created around Louis’ neck.

For a few seconds, it was absolute pandemonium. The blast wave that shot outward was enough to blow Kira straight off Louis’ back, and Zayn dashed to catch her. Every loose paper was launched into the air, and the lamp went tumbling off the desk.

Harry held an arm in front of his face and tried to root himself to the floor, but even he was pushed back by the wind.

As soon as the spell was finalized, order was restored. Louis froze and dropped down on his stomach, pitifully whining as Harry was overflowing with dominance. The leader carefully got up and looked at his wrist, but all the evidence of the leash had disappeared.

Nobody had said anything yet, but Harry looked to Kira for some kind of guidance, and the mage whispered, “Will it to appear. It’s a part of you now, you can call it whenever you want.”

Harry scrunched his brows in concentration as he stared at a spot in the air between Louis and himself. He shot a determined hand out, believing with all of his might that he would grab ahold of the leash, and to his astonishment, his hand wrapped around it and it lit up to its visible colour. He stared at the connection from his wrist to Louis’ neck and curiously pulled the leash back, watching in fascination as it tugged on Louis’ collar. “Holy shit,” he breathed in fascination.

Louis was staring at him and whining, and Harry knew only he could help, so he walked right up to him and sat down, giving him loving pets on the head. “Louis?” he called unsurely, smiling when the wolf’s ears perked up in recognition. “Come back,” he ordered with force.

Louis couldn’t believe Harry had this kind of power, but he found he couldn’t disobey the words no matter what, and he felt himself shrinking as he returned to his human form. Everybody blew a loud sigh of relief as they were finally able to climb down from fight mode.

Harry kept his focus on Louis the whole time, never letting him think he was going through the pain alone. Once the Ashen was back in his trembling human skin on his hands and knees, he instantly fell under the surface of consciousness and crashed sideways right into Harry’s lap.

Harry caught him and rolled him over until he was holding him like a baby, peppering his face in proud kisses. Zayn was a bit jealous of the connection they had with each other now, but he needn't have cared so much because Harry automatically held out his arm for Zayn to join them.

“You did so good, Harry,” Zayn praised, lowering his head onto Louis’ naked chest and fighting tears. “We almost lost him.”

“ _He_ did good. And Kira did good,” Harry corrected, turning his attention to Jareth. “What now?”

“Take him to your room. Let him rest. You two will need to take him to his adoptive parents’ home. They are going to explain the Ashen clan to him to the best of their ability, so please keep him in check. Learn how to use your binding spell. Trial and error.”

“Okay,” Harry accepted, lifting Louis off the ground with Zayn’s help and walking out without another word.

 

~~~

 

“Well, that went well,” Kira said tiredly, helping Jareth collect all the papers off the ground and return them to a messy pile in the middle of his desk.

“I’m going to put him in training to be a fighter. He needs to get that aggression out somehow, or Harry’s going to have too much on his plate. He has to learn to control it himself, Harry is just a backup plan. Insurance. He can’t control him forever on his own, or Louis will never progress…maybe even become rabid,” Jareth said worriedly, trying to keep his faith in Harry.

“With those two, I think he’s going to be fine. If his parents had the control, then so does he. Double the control, even. It's somewhere deep within himself, he just has to find it.”

“You heard that?” he asked, a little irritated that someone had been listening in to his conversations, even if it was his most cherished wolf.

“I’m Kira,” the mage said simply, as if that explained everything. “Pack Mage, yes, but I’m also the eyes and ears of Atsila. A professional eavesdropper, if you will.”

“You’re unbelievable,” he said fondly, taking his lover in his arms when everything was cleaned and giving her a passionate kiss.

“I love you, Jare. Call me or Dean if you need anything else, you know the drill,” she said, giving him a last peck on the lips before letting go and skipping out of his office.

“I love you too,” he said into the empty air, falling down into his chair and staring at all the organizing he had to do, overcome with demotivation. At least the biggest worry was out of the way. For now…

 

~~~

 

Harry unfortunately ran into his Mother again on his way to the fourth floor, and she covered her eyes when they registered the naked boy lying unconscious in her son’s arms. “Why do I always catch you like this?” she scolded in exasperation, lowering her hand just enough to see Harry’s face.

“Sorry, Mom,” he said contritely.

“That howling was him I take it,” she guessed obviously.

“Yeah,” Harry replied, resuming his walk before anyone else had to see his naked form. “Sorry, but I gotta get to my room.”

“Well don’t apologize to me,” Anne responded in agreement of Harry’s prudency.

“I’ll explain everything later,” he called over his shoulder.

“Yeah, got it.”

“What do we do with him now?” Zayn asked as they were climbing the building via elevator.

“Let him sleep,” Harry responding, letting out a peaceful breath as soon as they were on their floor.

Zayn unlocked the door and they climbed into bed, completely ignoring Liam and Niall for now because they couldn’t handle anymore anything. They settled down and wrapped Louis in their arms, who was lightly snoring in-between them.

“Fuck this, I’m sleeping,” Harry yawned, and Zayn couldn’t agree more.

Niall and Liam scooted over wordlessly, cuddling up against the trio and closing their eyes for the sleep everyone needed now that their brother was finally back and tribulations had been conquered. For now…


	10. Ashen Clan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, he understands.

Louis woke up in a panic because it only took a millisecond to discover he was trapped, but when he opened his eyes, he found it was only Harry and Zayn who were covering him like blankets. He smiled at their adorable sleeping forms and was just about to close his eyes to go back to sleep when flashes of shifting stormed their way into his memory and he sat all the way up instead.

Harry was jarred awake and sat up on his knees to take Louis’ face in his hands. “Lou? Hey, are you alright?” he asked, repeatedly punching Zayn because the wolf hadn’t woken yet like he should have.

“Wha—” Zayn questioned defensively, quickly becoming more alert when he took in Louis’ wide eyes and shaking hands. “Is he turning?”

“So it’s true?” Louis squeaked, looking back and forth between them like one of them might deny it. “Did I really do that?”

Harry took him into his arms and glared at Zayn over his shoulder, and the black-haired wolf slapped a hand over his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut as he surely cursed himself in his head.

“Yes, darling. You did…but do you remember what happened?” Harry asked, pulling back to level with the distraught puppy.

“You…bound yourself to me,” Louis recalled, clearly unnerved by the unexpected turn of events.

“Wrong,” Harry barked, reaching out while he powered his mind, grabbing at the leash that appeared and viciously yanking Louis across his hips. “I bound _you_ to _me_ ,” he snarled as he tore into the back of Louis’ neck with his teeth.

“Harry, what the—” Zayn began in appallment, the words dying on his tongue when he saw the bloodthirsty look in his leader’s eyes.

Louis was whimpering, but Harry wouldn’t let up until every twitch of struggle was gone from his Ashen’s body. He may be acting a bit unforgiving at the moment, but he had no choice. It was his duty to keep this wolf in check and assert his dominance, otherwise Louis would get too confident.

Louis relaxed in Harry’s lap and the older wolf moved him by his waist further forward across his thighs and landed a harsh strike to the Ashen’s arse with his palm. Louis squeaked and cried out into the room, hardly believing that he deserved this treatment, but not able to deny that he liked it at the same time.

“Are you gonna be a good dog?” Harry taunted, massaging the skin he’d smacked, but making it clear he could easily do it again if he got the wrong answer.

“Yes! I promise I’ll be good,” Louis whined, but instantly regretting it because he didn’t actually want Harry to be done. “If I want to be,” he added daringly, squeezing his eyes shut in anticipation.

Harry scoffed and leaned over to be clearly heard. “I know what you’re doing. I can see through you like glass, Louis. I know what you want. That’s not how this is gonna work. If you’re bad, I won’t touch you at all. I won’t even look at you. I’ll only give you what you seek if you truly obey me.”

Things suddenly became much more peril in Louis’ mind and he twisted around to beg into Harry’s unimpressed eyes. “No, please. I will be good, I swear. Hurt me. I need it, Harry,” he pleaded fearfully, fighting the urge to lash out because that would push him even further from his goal.

Harry didn’t respond verbally, but he surrendered to give Louis what he was vying for. “Who do you belong to?” he asked, holding his hand just above Louis’ backside.

“You,” Louis said instantly, groaning when he got another spank.

“Who do you belong to?”

“Y-You.”

_Smack._

“Who do you belong to?”

“You, I belong to you—”

_Smack smack._

“WHO DO YOU BELONG TO?”

“YOU, HARRY. YOU, YOU, YOU.”

_Smack smack smack smack._

“Who else?”

“Zayn!”

_Smack._

This went on for quite some unknown time, each blissful second pulling him deeper into a thoughtless and wave-like headspace that he was desperately drawn to. “Please don’t stop,” he whispered, hoping someone heard him.

Harry did hear, and the hits kept coming until Louis felt the time arrive, and he let go of himself completely, diving off the high board into the pitch black that welcomed him like he was coming home after a long day of work.

 

~~~

 

“There he goes,” Zayn noted, crawling over to open one of the wolf’s eyelids. “Yup, he’s gone. Is this really all that needs to be done? Is the key to saving him in the future from his own destructive tendencies _seriously_ BDSM?” he chuckled, ducking to avoid a pillow that Harry launched at his face.

“This—” the leader emphasized by shaking the leash and collar, “—is _not_ BDSM. This is an ancient ritual to train unpredictable wolves.”

“Okay, sure. Can you say the same for the spanking? I must have missed that ritual lesson.”

“You…” Harry began in irritation, not finding the will to continue and rolling Louis off his lap to inspect him. The younger wolf looked so happy and peaceful, it was hard to imagine where all this primal rage was even coming from. Harry scoured the small and naked body with calculating eyes, as if the anger would be something visible to him hanging on Louis like a leech.

“You’re wondering why Louis is the way he is,” Zayn mentioned, not needing to be in a mental room to pick up on Harry’s body language.

“He’s just so innocent, isn’t he? He came to us in a forest completely in the palms of our hands. Us—his superiors... We take him into our group, we knot him, he knots Niall, everything’s fine! And then he’s two seconds from ending the damn world all the fucking time. We had no idea what we were dealing with back then. Imagine if we hadn’t knotted him. He’d be unreachable by now, or so I’ve been told. I’m starting to believe it.”

“So, that’s good, then. Wipe that depressing look off your face, we helped. You’re absolutely right, there’s a good chance that he would be in a terrible terrible state if we hadn’t found him first, but we _did_ ,” Zayn assured, laying his head on Louis’ chest and catching Harry’s discouraged gaze.

“Do you think Niall and Liam are distancing themselves because they’re afraid of him?” Harry asked, noticing the two wolves had disappeared after they’d gone to sleep, and they hadn’t mentioned when they were coming back, or returned at all.

“They’ve been breaking off, but I think it’s just a natural dynamic shift. We chose Louis to put all of our focus into, and Liam has always been crazy in love with Niall. I think this was his chance to take him for himself, and I doubt Liam would have been happy with Louis knotting him, considering this wolf is our submissive. It was a big enough blow to him that I did it, imagine how he’d feel from Louis…they’re not afraid. Don’t worry,” he added, giving his leader a supportive kiss on the lips.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Harry sighed, butting their foreheads together. “When he wakes up, we should knot him,” he said mischievously, crawling down to sit against the wall and plot their sexual activity. “Right after, we’ll take him to his parents’ house…the extra submission he’ll endure with us might be enough to keep him in check the whole time.”

The wolves smirked until it hurt, and they shimmied out of their clothing to wait for Louis to come back to reality so they could pounce.

Almost as if Louis’ subconscious had been listening in, the wolf began to stir from his subspace and immediately sought out Harry and Zayn. The older wolves greeted him affectionately, licking and nipping at his face while they massaged his skin.

“Are you up for—” Zayn began, getting cut off by an impatient Harry.

“He’s up for it,” Harry said surely, hopping over to sit behind Louis and shove him down so that his hips were sticking up and his hole was exposed.

“What are you—” Louis cut off with a moan when Harry’s tongue mercilessly attacked his hole, sending shivers through every inch of his body. The tongue was promptly joined by what he counted as three fingers, and his ability to keep himself up was faltering, but Zayn slid down underneath him before he fell and let him rest on his chest instead.

“Hurry up,” Zayn groaned as Louis bit on Zayn’s nipple to have something to do.

“Fine,” Harry grunted, pulling his fingers out and flipping Louis around to face him while guiding him onto Zayn’s cock to shut them both up. Zayn sat up and practically shoved his way in, now that he was aware of Louis’ particular fetish, and held him close to ease his trembling.

Harry smirked and backed up, pulling on the leash until both of them had no choice but to follow. Louis ended up on his hands and knees while Zayn was up on his knees behind him, regarding Harry with devious suspicion. “What are you planning, Harry?”

“Just keep fucking him. Don’t stop on my account,” he said, running his thumb across Louis’ parted lips and raising an eyebrow when Louis disconnected their eye contact with a moan from Zayn’s thrusts. “Eyes on me,” he ordered, gifting Louis with a kiss when he obeyed. Louis’ eyes were wide with want as he eyed Harry’s cock that was painfully close to his face and he extended his neck to try and get to it. “What, you want this?” Harry taunted, petting the volatile submissive’s hair and humming in consideration. “Alright.”

Harry walked forward on his knees until his pelvis was so close to Louis that the wolf would have no choice but to take the whole cock into his mouth. “That’s right,” Harry confirmed when he saw Louis’ eyes register the truth of what would happen. “If you want it, you have to take all of it. If you can’t, I’ll ignore you. Do you want that?”

Louis shook his head frantically and opened his mouth, desperate to prove that he wouldn’t let his master down.

Harry grinned and pushed his cock into Louis’ waiting mouth, not stopping until it was intruding in the back of his throat. It was a new feeling for Louis, and he wouldn’t deny that he choked on it, but this only seemed to make Harry happier, so he surrendered to choke as much as his master wanted him to. He loved being filled from both ends, and his moaning from Zayn only sent pleasurable vibrations to Harry’s cock, so everyone was happy.

Harry had been letting Louis get used to the feeling and quickly train him how to deepthroat and figure out his breathing, but once he got the hang of it, Harry showed no more mercy. The older wolf reached out and gripped the leash, twisting the collar around so that the leash was coming from the back of Louis’ neck, using that as leverage to fuck Louis’ throat for real.

Louis gagged with every thrust, but he put all of his concentration into taking it regardless, and eventually Harry pulled out before he got too close to an orgasm. The leader motioned for Zayn to lay back down and take Louis with him, and then got in between their legs when they were ready.

The leader didn’t give Louis any measure of a breather before he sunk into his tight hole alongside Zayn, bottoming out with a mirrored shudder to every wolf present.

Now both wolves were fucking their submissive to knot him, and Harry handed Zayn the magical leash to asphyxiate Louis while he focused on his own knot progression.

“I can touch this?” Zayn asked unsurely, holding a tentative hand out.

Harry deposited it right into Zayn’s hand and the wolf’s mouth dropped open when he physically felt it. “Yeah,” Harry grunted, speeding up his thrusts because he couldn’t wait for Zayn anymore. “You’re the only other wolf who can. You’re in this relationship, you have just as much power in this as I do. Choke him with it,” he added quickly, knowing he didn’t have much time left before his knot would form.

Zayn nodded and slid his hand down until it was closest to the collar, pulling on it until Louis was gasping for breath. “You like that?” he murmured sensually into Louis’ ear, matching Harry’s pace with his hips and reveling in Louis’ restricted breathing.

Harry and Zayn’s knots were quickly growing and Zayn yanked the collar so that Louis couldn’t breathe at all, forcing him to hold it until he came. Harry used a free hand to cup Louis’ sack and fondle it to urge him into his orgasm while he did a number on the Ashen’s nipples with his tongue.

Everything was timed perfectly so that they all came at once, and since the collar was in the way, Harry took Louis’ wrist to bite into, and Zayn took the top of his shoulder.

Louis was still sobbing, but the comforting hands petting him served as a lullaby, and he quickly found himself on the verge of sleeping again, but Harry had something he needed to make clear.

“If you want to sleep, you only have until our knots go down. After this, we’re taking you to your parents’ home. They’re going to tell you about the Ashen clan, so mentally prepare yourself,” he said, sighing when Louis’ eyes flashed with anger.

“Ashen,” Louis spat hatefully, whining when Harry tugged on the leash with way more force than necessary.

“Stop it. Go to sleep.”

The wolves rolled over and said nothing more to avoid riling him up, and they soon fell into a nap, but not before Harry set an alarm for an hour, just to be safe. They were in for a likely stressful conversation, but they’d done everything they could to calm him down beforehand—now it was just up to Louis’ will. Hopefully they wouldn’t have to crack down on him in front of his parents, but they would do whatever was necessary.

 

\---

 

The three wolves were stood outside Louis’ old house, holding Louis lovingly to keep him calm. Zayn stretched his leg out to ring the doorbell with his shoe, and  both dominants reluctantly let go of their Ashen when the door opened.

“Hey Louis,” Johannah sung gleefully, taken aback when she noticed Harry was holding what looked like a fog leash that was connected to a collar around Louis’ neck, and eyeing her son warily as if something terrible would happen the moment he looked away. “Why don’t you boys come in?” she said nervously, looking around to make sure nobody was observing them.

The wolves entered with quiet introductions to the Ashen’s Mother, even shaking her hand as they passed. They walked Louis down the hallway Johannah directed them to, coming out into a dining room and nodding their hellos to Louis’ Father. They sat the Ashen down at the table and respectfully declined Johannah’s suggestion for them to sit themselves.

“Louis, are you okay?” she addressed to her son, taking in his emotionless face and sharing a look with Norman in the adjacent chair, before turning back to the unreadable wolf. “We couldn’t reach you at all—”

“What’s the Ashen clan?” Louis blurted darkly, getting a slap on both of his shoulders for his combative approach.

“Oh…” Johannah said, rubbing at her chin and looking anywhere but Louis’ eyes. “Well…they’re uh—”

“Tell me!” Louis shouted, ignoring the sharp pull of his collar and standing up to viciously snarl at her guilty face.

Harry shoved Louis back in his seat and kept a careful hand on the leash where it was closest to the collar, while Zayn quickly bit into the Ashen’s wrist. “Sorry. We have to be here, and it’s because of that,” Harry said with a flick of his head to the petulant and fuming Louis. “He’s a bit dangerous right now. Only we can handle him.”

“No, it’s okay,” Norman excused, taking his wife’s hand when she held hers out expectantly. “We understand. We’re glad you’re here.”

Louis sharply inhaled from the pain in his wrist, and he drew it in defensively to his chest when Zayn let go, glaring at both of his superiors and crossing his arms, blushing in shame for being manhandled in front of his parents. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled, huffing and finally facing his parents. “Please just tell me, I’m not in a very good place right now,” he quietly begged as Harry ran his knuckles down his cheek in approval, sitting up straighter when his Dad did that resolved sigh he always does before he’s about to give up.

“We’ll tell you. We’ll tell you everything,” Norman said as he let go of Johannah’s hand and set both of his flat on the table.

“What is the Ashen clan?” Louis tried again, making it clear he wouldn’t tolerate another avoidance of the subject.

“It’s your clan. Your bloodline. They were eradicated, and you are the last one,” Norman said matter-of-factly, fighting to keep Louis’ gaze and not look away out of weakness.

“Why are they all gone? What did they do?” Louis asked emotionally through the unanticipated lump in his throat.

“Hundreds of years ago, they exposed your kind to the world and the Hunters Organization was formed as a result. Ashen was loathed by both humans and lycans alike. They could…” he trailed, unsure that telling Louis what he could do was truly a smart idea.

“They could what?” Louis pressed desperately.

“They had unique powers from never breeding outside of their bloodline, or at least that’s why we think they had them. Things the rest of your kind doesn’t have,” he paused again, feeling like this should come from Johannah and conveying as much into her eyes.

“Is turning whenever you want to one of them?” Louis guessed, not seeing any other reason that could ever be possible.

“Yes,” Johannah confirmed, surprised that had already happened to him, but glad it was now out of the way. “As well as turning humans into lycans, and an immunity to silver,” she said quickly, knowing in any other situation, she would laugh at Louis’ facial expression.

“I’m not immune to silver—”

“You’re probably strong enough now,” Norman interrupted, getting out of his chair and walking to the kitchen. He came back with a silver spoon in his fist and handed it to the wary Louis, giving the other two wolves an apologetic look when they instantly growled and jumped back five feet.

Louis was nervous because he remembered that pain, but he had to know. He had to try. He reached a hand out when he was sure it wouldn’t tremble and bravely snatched the spoon, waiting for any kind of backlash and letting out a held breath when there wasn’t anything to react to. The silver seemed to thrum in his hand a bit, but there was absolutely no pain, and he handed it back when it got too overwhelming to bear.

Nobody said anything for a while. His dominants were too overtaken by shock to speak, not that they had any right to in this situation, and his parents weren’t sure where to lead the conversation now.

“Did you say turn humans?” Louis remembered as an afterthought when the silver predicament was dealt with.

“Your clan wielded the unexplainable ability to create lycans out of full-blooded humans. Something I’m sure you have the power to do, but something you must never enact under any circumstances. It was deemed the highest and most unforgivable crime that a lycan could commit, understand? Ashen created an army of half-bloods to fight the hunters, but the turned lycans sided with the hunters instead, and they betrayed the clan. That was their downfall,” Norman informed, giving Louis some time to internalize every piece of knowledge he was being enlightened with.

“How were they killed?” Louis asked in confusion, judging and assuming by the descriptions that they would have been invincible.

“Over the years, silver bullets were constructed that exploded into the bloodstream upon impact,” said Norman.

Louis remained silent as he sifted through all of what he knew now, still not satisfied with one particular detail. “How the fuck do you know all of this? How did you get me? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Norman gulped and took Johannah’s hand under the table. “We…we were there. Ana and Dmitri handed you to us themselves,” he said passionately, needing him to know their previous explanation had elements of truth in it.

“Why were you there?”

“Louis…we—” Norman began, getting cut off by a Johannah who had been lying for too long.

“Because we were hunters,” she blurted with a near sob, squeezing her eyes and slowly opening them again when Louis had no immediate or audible reaction.

Louis was absolutely frozen on the spot and the other two wolves even looked offended to hear their confession. The silence stretched on for a worrisome amount of time, but Louis eventually snapped and let out a roar as he scrambled up onto the table to try and get to them. The raging Ashen barely registered Johannah’s face of sheer terror before he was suddenly on his back.

Harry had put every ounce of his strength into holding him back from the scared parents, and he crawled onto the table to get to the Ashen before he could resume his attack. Vases and glasses were breaking all over the table, but Harry had a one-track mind. “Louis!” he barked, finally reaching him and constricting him to the best of his ability.

The parents watched in crushing sadness as their rabidly growling son wrestled with Harry on the table. They saw Harry brutally ram his teeth into Louis’ neck, and the pair rolled right off the table in the struggle, breaking a chair on their way down.

Harry hadn’t let their fall disconnect his teeth, and he held on as hard as he could, because Louis wouldn’t dare pull away in this delicate condition. He may be mindless right now, and blinded by fury, but he’s still not an idiot. The leader wolf rolled onto his back and locked his legs around Louis’ stomach, keeping his arms around his chest in much the same way.

Zayn took this chance to jump over the table and stand above the fighting couple to yell into Louis’ face, thinking a little logic might be what he needs. “Louis! Fucking control yourself! They’re your _parents_ , do you really want to hurt them?” he shouted accusingly, avoiding Louis’ attempted kicks expertly.

“They _killed_ my parents,” Louis growled, causing a wailing cry to spill out of his Mother’s throat.

“No! You’re wrong!” the woman yelled louder than anyone else this entire visit. She shot out of her glued spot in the chair and approached the bonded group fearlessly.

Harry took his teeth out and pulled on the leash, trying to keep Louis immobile for everyone’s best interest. “No!” he ordered Johannah, holding a warning hand out to stop her. “Do not—get close to him,” he panted, tightening his arms when Louis’ squirming got impossibly more dramatic. “Stay back, it’s not safe! Only we can be around him, he’s—we’re wolves, we can take it. You, you're a human, he could turn you!”

Johannah heeded the warning, but found communicating with her son much more important than her own safety. She dropped down to her knees right on top of the wolf and courageously grabbed his face to force his attention on her.

Louis’ teeth came out and he made a precarious swing with his neck that got them close to her wrist, but Zayn grabbed him by the hair to pull him back, and Harry tugged the leash behind him with both of his shaking arms. The threat didn’t seem to perturb the Mother in the slightest, and she held strong to her determination.

“Listen to me!” she demanded, letting out a relieved breath when Louis’ eyes shot to her and he halted his thrashing. “Yes, we were hunters. The best in the whole damn country. Yes, we’ve killed your kin before, but guess who changed our entire perspective? You. You did. And your parents. Who were our _friends_. We were on a mission to invade your clan, and we didn’t know they were lyans until we saw them in the underground tribeland. When we found them, it was already too late—”

“You could have saved them!” Louis furiously disagreed, not willing to let go of their deplorable guilt in this tale.

“If we’d found them first, maybe—” Norman piped, quickly joining them on the floor, “—but we didn’t. We took you, and we ran. We left the Organization and fled back to America to raise you in safety, and you if you wanna kill us for it, then go ahead. It might protect you even more with us out of the picture,” he brutally suggested.

Louis’ eyes welled with sudden tears at his Father’s words and he whined under all the emotional and physical pressure. Harry and Zayn got to work on comforting him in small little ways, but Louis barely felt them. “You should’ve just let me die,” he whispered brokenly.

“No!” Johannah contended, running her palm over his hair and smiling through her tears. “You’re our _son_ , Louis. We have always loved you, and we would be lost without you. You came into our lives and changed them for the better, and we have had nothing but amazing times with you. You are everything to us, even as an infant, we never would have left you. Ana and Dmitri didn’t have to make us promise, we would have done it no matter what.”

All of the fight in Louis drained away with the sobs that finally released from his throat, and the parents backed away to give him some space, while Harry pulled him up into his arms and hushed him sweetly. Louis turned around as he took Harry’s shirt in both of his hands and cried into his chest, getting crushed by the dense weight of the truth.

“We’re so sorry, Louis,” Johannah cried, tucking some hair behind Louis’ ear and ignoring the possessive growl that Harry let slip out. He hadn’t meant it, and he conveyed that to her with his eyes, so she continued.

“It’s okay,” he muffled into Harry’s chest, finally turning his face to give her a weak but forgiving smile. “I’m just scared,” he bravely admitted, earning a proud kiss to the hair from both of his superiors.

“We’re gonna keep you safe, Louis. We won’t let them get to you if we have any chance at stopping it. They’ll have to get through us first, and we’re quite handy against their fighting style,” Norman assured, helping the other wolves get Louis off the ground when he raised his arms up for assistance.

“I need to learn too,” he announced, welcoming a new wave of confidence that took over his previously flimsy resolve. “I need to be able to protect myself, I can’t always look to other people. If I have this strength, I have to know how to use it to help others, not hurt them.”

“Jareth will help you out there,” Harry said, stealing everyone’s attention, “He already told me he wants you in fighter training to get your aggression out, and I think I could talk to him about Norman coming along as well. He may know helpful things that we don’t. Would that work for you?” he asked the Father, who nodded in response.

“Yeah, I’ll give you the best gun training you could ever receive,” Norman said, getting a grin out of his son.

“And we’ll teach you how to fight like wolves,” Harry added, wrapping his arms around his little Louis and freely smiling with the identically relieved Zayn.

“I really love you guys a lot. Just watch, I’ll protect you all,” Louis sniffed, swallowing that same lump in his throat and making small fists of determination. “They already killed two of my parents. How in the _fuck_ could they _ever_ believe I would let them take two more?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh, motivation.


	11. Louis' Outlet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Louis with a gun, aye.

“Owww, what the _fuck_ ,” Louis growled after being sucker punched the second he walked into training.

“Sorry, Lou,” Jareth said sympathetically, holding a hand out to lift the wolf off the ground. “You have to be prepared for random attacks.”

“Yeah, apparently,” Louis muttered, plotting his revenge to return the favour to Jareth at the most inconvenient time possible.

Norman was going to be over in about an hour, so Louis was to spend the wait learning how to fight like a human. The three wolves were in the basement of the hotel where an underground parking garage had been transformed into training grounds. The shooting range was the lowest floor, and basic to complex fighting took up the middle ones. The top floor was more of a gymnasium for exercise, but Louis didn’t need one at all with the amount of strength he already had. The infamous strength he just didn’t yet know how to use correctly.

Harry’s Father had taken the liberty of serving as Louis’ dueling partner for his session, which shocked the hell out of Louis, but not so much Harry. Mick was an especially skilled fighter, and Atsila had a good plentiful of them to ward off hunters in case the unthinkable happened.

Louis was honoured to be brought in amongst their ranks, but he was a little nervous to fight Harry’s Father. He’d never met him because everyone in Harry’s little pack usually stuck to themselves, but he could clearly see the resemblance.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Louis. My wife has told me...interesting things, but it’s good to see you for myself. I think you make a good mate for my son. However, let’s set aside the introductions for now. I want you to come at me with everything you’ve got,” Mick challenged, tying his long hair back and stretching his shoulders.

“Everything?” Louis asked unsurely, looking to Harry to make sure it was okay.

“You’ve got him, right?” Mick asked his son, who nodded and shook the leash for effect.

“I can’t not. We’re attached. Zayn will be here in awhile, and we’ll take care of Louis if anything gets out of hand,” Harry assured, walking away to sit on a bench while his Father did what he did best.

Louis and Harry had discovered that the leash stretches and lets them go wherever they want, but alternatively, Harry also found he had the ability to lock it if he needed, so Louis couldn’t travel anywhere further than Harry allowed him to. It gets harder to pull on the further away they were from each other, but they were trying to work on it together to make it effective no matter the distance.

Louis closed his eyes and focused his mind on fighting. When he tried to imagine it, he didn’t know what to do, but he knows he can. It’s somewhere deep inside, he just had to let go and let it take over...but not _too much_ , because then he’d be on the ground with teeth in his neck.

 

\---

 

A long and tiring hour later, Louis now knew the basics of offense and defense fighting that he would likely experience with a human enemy. It was all pretty straight-forward and just what you’d expect from watching action movies, but it was difficult because his nature was constantly yelling at him to do something else.

Harry only had to pull him back a few times when Mick was dueling, because he got a bit too extreme, but it had all ended well.

“You’re pretty good, kid,” Mick admitted, wiping the sweat off his forehead with a rag. “I can tell you have more in there, it’s just not within your reach yet. But don’t worry, you’ve got more time to get stronger.”

“He’s gonna get stronger no matter what,” Jareth said from the sidelines, having watched Louis’ natural fighting style with rapt attention. “Thanks for your help today, Mick.”

“Of course. Lemme know if you want me to come back, otherwise I’m gonna spend the day with Anne. Harry, bring him over for dinner soon, okay? I’d like to get to know him without throwing punches,” Mick chuckled, pulling Harry into an embarrassing hug and ruffling Louis’ hair before walking away.

“Sure thing, Pops,” Harry sighed, smiling apologetically to Louis as the Ashen wolf petulantly fixed his fringe but smiled at Mick’s back all the same.

“I’d love for-” Louis began, about to say dinner sounded nice, but getting interrupted by his Father’s particularly obnoxious voice.

“Hello, hello, _hello,_ ” Norman cheerfully called as he was walked in by Zayn, who shook his head fondly at the sing-song tone he’d just heard.

“Dad,” Louis greeted tightly, walking up and throwing his arms around Norman’s torso, regardless of how cringey he was sometimes.

“Hey kiddo,” Norman said into Louis’ hair, rubbing his back and then pulling away. “So, guns?”

“Yeah, we’re done here,” Mick said, still in the doorway because Norman had busted in before he could leave. “He did pretty good for a newbie. Why don’t I take you guys down to the range?” he suggested. Anyone else could have done it, but Mick was very interested in Louis’ adoptive Father, considering he’d raised an Ashen lycan.

“Oh, Dad, this is Harry’s Dad, Mick,” Louis informed so everyone was on the same page.

Norman gave the Father wolf a winning grin and stepped forward with his hand out. “Good to meet you, Mick. I’m Norman.”

Mick eyed the hand before taking it, because this was far outside the typical wolf greeting, and not many of them knew what to do with it. Nevertheless, the wolf reciprocated the gesture and Norman shook his hand up and down excitedly for his odd human greeting. Mick forced a smile and mentally noted he would just wash his hand later when he got home. “Hello, Norman. I think you’ll find Louis here easy to teach.”

“That’s good to hear. If it’s anything like your school work, I know you’ll excel,” Norman said over his shoulder, causing Louis to gulp in mild shame. “Wait, what’s with that look? You love school.”

“Well…I actually—” Louis began, looking to Harry for help.

“He dropped out of school. Right before he got fired,” Harry admitted, blocking a punch from Louis for spilling _all_ of the beans, but the superior wolf found he couldn’t lie to Louis’ Father.

“That’s unfortunate,” Norman sighed, already having expected something of the sort to occur. “Do you think you’ll ever go back?”

Louis shrugged and walked further into Harry’s side, hiding in the arms that automatically snaked around him.

“Believe in him,” Mick said confidently. “With our help, I think he could do anything he put his mind to...without fear of sabotaging it, that is.”

“Specifically, your son’s help,” Norman praised, his faith quickly restored. “Harry, I’d like to thank you for taking care of him. I don’t know how easy or difficult it has been outside of what I’ve seen, but I’m positive that he’s lucky to have you.”

“Louis can be difficult,” Harry teased, tightening his embrace when he received a fiery glare from his submissive. “But I know how to enforce obedience,” he said with a smirk to Louis’ scandalized face, changing his approach when he realized that wasn’t something he should have said in front of both of their Fathers. “What I really mean is...I will always look after him. Even if it gets us both into extreme peril, there will never be a time when Louis doesn’t have me right behind him. I promise.”

Norman looked satisfied with that, and Mick clapped his hands together to shift the focus on why they were all here. “Shall we?” he asked, heading for the elevator.

Norman and Jareth followed with a grunt of approval, and the affectionate couple paused a moment as they gazed into each other’s eyes. “Are you promising them, or are you promising me?” Louis teased against Harry’s lips he’d stepped up on his tiptoes to reach.

Harry let his lover bask in the kiss he was seeking, and when he pulled away, he held a gentle hand under the Ashen’s chin to hold his face steady, always desiring to gander freely at the bluest blue of his spectacular eyes. “I’m promising the future.”

 

\---

 

“Alright, Lou. This is a Standard 10mm Glock 20. Holds fifteen rounds, and if you’re a good shooter, it will be too. I’m just gonna show you a little about how to load it, and then you can do whatever. Sound good?”

Louis nodded and leaned over his Father’s shoulder at the table, giving him his full interest and attention.

“Okay, so this is your magazine, right?” Norman said to Louis, taking out the magazine and rotating it for Louis to see, giving him an oversimplified demonstration of the inner-workings of handguns. “So you take your rounds, like this, line the back with the numbers…” he paused to hand it to Louis so he could try. “Yeah, that’s right. And push down with your thumb to put another one in.”

Louis did as he was told, and loaded the magazine up to thirteen rounds before his thumb was killing him. “Fuck, how do you get the last ones?”

“Ah, yeah. The spring just gets more tension, so it gets harder, but you won’t have time for a speedloader, so just do your best,” he encouraged, grinning when his son got them in. “Nice, okay so now you’re gonna put the magazine back in—” Another pause to let Louis figure it out. “— Great, then to load a round in the chamber, you have to release the slide. Yeah, you can either pull the slide like this? Right? And it'll spring back...or you can push the slide lever down.”

“Like this?”

“Y-Yeah. Jesus, be careful, would you? It’s loaded now,” he scolded when Louis swung the gun around blindly, causing a nearby Harry to hit the pavement in terror.

“Always keep your index finger lined up against it if you’re not about to shoot that very second. That’s the safety on the back. On, off. Got it?” he informed, reaching over and toggling the safety.

“Okay, can I shoot the targets now?” Louis asked impatiently, turning to face the paper silhouettes with murder in his eyes. He was going to kill that paper.

“Uh, sure. Here, put these earbuds in. Also, stand like this. Right...and hold under your other hand to steady it. Look down it like this…great, now are you listening?”

Louis tore his eyes away from the target and glared at his Father. “Yeah, what?”

“You’re gonna wanna take a deep breath in, okay? And let it out slowly. As you’re exhaling, _squeeze_ the trigger. Don’t pull it, very important. Just tighten your fist,” Norman said as he put his own earbuds in, backing up to give him some room. He saw that Harry was already hiding behind a concrete pillar, so he rushed to do the same. “Is he really gonna be dangerous?” he asked the wolf, who shrugged nervously in response.

“I don’t know…Louis by himself has proven to be hard to handle. Louis with a gun? I mean…no fucking thank you.”

“Let’s just see how it goes,” Norman muttered, leaning away from the pillar to project his voice to the Ashen. “Ready when you are, Lou.”

The words hit Louis, but he was too deep in concentration to reply. He stared down the gun to the circular black head of the target, and let out that breath that his Father had suggested. As soon as he let it out, he squeezed the trigger like he was crushing it to death, and a deafening crack sounded throughout the concrete underground, making his ears ring even though they were decently protected. “Shit!” he shouted from the shock of it all, fixing his gaze to his target. “Did I hit it?”

Norman jogged up to his son, nodding when Louis took his finger away from the trigger and held it properly because it was still loaded. He continued on to the targets and his eyes went wide when he saw where the bullet hole was. “Direct headshot. Well done, Lou,” he congratulated, running back up and returning to his safety pillar. “Fire the rest of your rounds while aiming for the same spot. And keep in mind, for real world encounters: Against a single enemy, when in doubt, empty the magazine.”

Louis nodded and assumed the correct stance, going back into that oversimplified headspace and letting his wolf guide his accuracy. He seemed to be a natural at this, unless of course that was some fluke of fate, but there’s only one way to find out.

Fourteen ridiculously loud bangs later, his company slowly peered around their hiding spots and approached him calmly. Norman’s eyes went to the board first, and his mouth dropped open in disbelief. Jareth noticed it too, but didn’t need to get any closer because he had heightened senses. Harry went to Louis first and took him in his arms, just as  speechless when he took a glance at the target.

“That…that is…” Norman stuttered, finally close enough to observe the absolute perfection. Every other shot fired created a two layered circle around the initial shot, making it look like a bullet flower. “That precision. Louis, this is perfect. I’ve never seen anything like it. I don’t think I could ever do this,” he praised in awe.

Louis looked surprised to have done so well, but he was swimming in his ego when the shock passed. “What do you mean? Easy as shit,” he said coyly, trying to impress his superior beside him. It worked.

“You’re phenomenal, baby,” Harry murmured into his ear, twisting them side to side in the embrace. “That’s so crazy good, I don’t think you realize.”

“Well, I feel pretty secure with him as protection,” Jareth announced, having quietly observed this whole time. “Will you fight for us if it came to it?”

Louis furrowed his eyebrows and stepped away from his Harry’s arms, regarding the Alpha with confusion. “Jareth, I would have fought for this tribe with a frying pan. I’m happy to learn how to really make an impact, you don’t ever have to ask a question like that. My loyalty is here. I have this feeling that the Russian hunters are going to find me. And I don’t want to put you in danger…but if I do, the least I could do is be useful in getting you out of it. If I bring hunters here, I will put an end to them, mark my words,” he professed, locking the Alpha and him in fierce eye contact, conveying his dedication to protecting Atsila from any harm they may face.

“Thank you, Louis,” Jareth said with a smile when he understood just how serious the little wolf was. “And thank you, Norman. How about you just teach him some more terminology, and let him get a feel for the rest of the gun types, and I think then we can just let him loose—”

The Alpha’s words were cut off by the devastatingly powerful force of a fist in his face. It took him by such surprise that he toppled over the ground, hearing the others’ gasps of shock and sharing an exasperated look with the smirking Louis.

“What?” Louis asked innocently, holding a hand out to help Jareth back up. “Shoulda been prepared.”

Harry cackled uncontrollably, and Norman just gaped at them all, entirely confused at what he'd just witnessed.

“Not bad, Louis,” Jareth said approvingly, but dangerously sternly. He had a flood of different reactions ready to go, but he was not going to initiate a fight with an Ashen. He’d let this one slide. He continued walking toward the exit once he was standing, throwing an exhausted wave to them behind him as he stepped into the elevator and glaring at Louis until the doors closed.

“A…a fine idea,” Norman eventually agreed even after Jareth had left, still wrapping his head around his son’s absolutely perfect shooting for a firearm novice, and his jarring attack on his Alpha. “You really are an Ashen,” he said under his breath  so only Louis would hear it.

“Wipe that look off your face,” Louis teased with a grin, loading up the Glock again, just to get more practice before moving on. “You knew who I was.”

“True. This is just the first time I’ve looked at you without being sure if I’m seeing Nikita, or Dmitri.”

“I understand your confusion,” Louis chuckled, raising the Glock and pointing it at the furthest target possible. “Because it’s none of the above,” he added, taking a deep breath and beginning to squeeze the trigger just like before. “You’re seeing Louis.”

 

\---

 

“So, you can shoot a gun now?” Niall asked Louis, lying on his stomach on their shared bed and drowning in Liam’s bathrobe because the wolf was gone at work.

“Yeah,” Louis brushed off disinterestedly, opposed to letting Niall see his true giddiness because he had to act like the superior he was to him.

“And you’re good at it?” Niall prompted, scooting just a little bit closer every few seconds.

“What are you doing, Niall?” Harry asked in bemusement, eyeing the blonde with a look that says he knows exactly what he’s doing.

“Nothing,” Niall said innocently, finally getting Louis’ attention from the oddness of his response. “Liam is gone, and I’m lonely.”

Louis took a quick glance at Harry to see his reaction to Niall’s shameless flirting, but the dominant seemed intrigued, so Louis played along. “Aww, does little Niall want a knot? Is that what I’m hearing?” he cooed while he stroked under the blonde’s chin.

Niall’s cheeks paled, but he didn’t deny the assumption.

“Use your words, Niall. Are you vying for mine?” Louis said seductively, reaching into his pants and giving his attentive cock a few pleasurable strokes.

“Yes, please,” Niall nodded, forfeiting the game and snuggling up to his superior. “I really like yours, Louis. I’ve missed it.”

“I know you have, love,” Louis said softly, sitting up to lean over Niall and slowly start to undo his robe. “I’ve been a little off my rocker lately. Zayn and Harry have had to take care of me, but you can still come to me anytime you wish. I’ll always be here for you when I’m…fully here,” he said cryptically, not sure how he himself worked either.

“I love Liam, but I’ve missed you guys. Just because we went off on our own, doesn’t mean we can’t still have each other, right? Harry? I’ve missed all of you,” Niall whined, arching his back when Louis opened the robe and ran his palms down his chest.

“This has gone unspoken for a while now, but I’m glad you brought it up, sweetie,” Harry said lovingly as he slid in to be close to them, avoiding accidentally hitting Louis as he was kissing down Niall’s stomach. “We can always have each other. Our old dynamic shifted, but none of those times are forgotten. I love you all very much, you know that.”

Niall’s eyes welled with tears and he stretched his neck as far as it would go until Harry got the hint and leaned in for a kiss.

“Liam and I are more friends than anything, because that’s just how it worked out. But that doesn’t make him any less important to me, I just can’t handle more than three lovers. I guess it’s my cut off point. So we spread out a bit…but I still own you, Niall. No matter how distracted I may get, you always have the right to demand my attention, because I’m in part responsible for your happiness, just as Harry and Zayn are responsible for mine,” he announced as he took Niall’s cock in his mouth because he lost his battle with patience.

“Loui-ahh,” Niall moaned, greedily accepting Harry’s tongue in his mouth. Everyone’s mouths were now busy, so Niall gathered up the strength to send a message into their minds: _Thank you._

 

\---

 

The longer Harry watched his Louis and Niall go at it with each other, the more unignorably aroused he became. Both of their whimpers and grunts of pleasure were shooting straight to Harry’s left-out cock, and this simply wouldn’t do.

The leader approached Louis from behind as carefully and slowly as he could, knowing the Ashen would be overly defensive if he moved too soon. A wolf on track to knotting their submissive was not easily knocked off their high horse, but Harry figured he could do it.

He started with an innocent back massage that anyone would appreciate, and when Louis only tensed for a fleeting moment and then kept slamming into Niall, Harry took it a step further and ran his nails down the Ashen’s back instead.

Louis contracted away from the sensation and whipped his head around to snarl into Harry’s face. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Harry knew his dominance was still nonexistent at the moment, so he jostled the leash to drive his point home. “Careful, Louis. Remember your place,” he commanded, daringly pressing his chest against the wary Louis’ back.

Niall whined for attention, and Louis immediately cooed and turned his focus back to the blonde under him, who threw his arms around Louis’ neck and pulled him down so they were both horizontal.

This put Harry exactly where he wanted to be, but he still needed to do this with great caution. He reached the bottle of lube unseen by Louis, and quietly got rid of his clothing before he returned to make his move. He had already slicked up his shaft by the time he made himself known, pulling Louis’ cheeks apart and rubbing at his hole. The cornered wolf reacted violently as Harry had expected, but he was confident he’d come out on top, do with the pun what you will.

“—the fuck off me,” Louis growled, even throwing an elbow to get Harry to back off while he was dominating someone else.

“Don’t give me that, Nikita,” Harry snapped, yanking the leash back but shoving the wolf’s hips forward into Niall before the Ashen could pull out to fight with Harry. “Stay inside Niall. Don’t you dare leave him.”

Louis seemed to realize what he almost did, and he peppered Niall’s face in kisses as he resumed his thrusts into the subservient wolf. “I’m sorry, Niall.”

Harry repeated the same apology since it was his fault, but he still wasn’t done. The leader wolf knew Louis would quit complaining once Harry was inside of him, but it was undeniably a challenge to get to that point. He wrapped a strong arm around Louis’ torso and probed at his hole, steeling himself for the thrashing Louis would make.

As anticipated, Louis viciously growled over his shoulder, and shoved his whole upper body backward, but this actually made it perfect. Harry fought against the wily wolf and eventually succeeded in burying himself deep within him. He bit into the back of his neck over his original bite, and sighed in relief when the submissive finally woke up and accepted the intrusion.

“Knot Niall,” Harry ordered, pushing Louis back down and waiting patiently.

Louis whimpered and hid himself in Niall’s neck, resuming his mating and breathing more heavily because he felt it in a lot more places now. Harry focused on the timing and made sure that nobody fell out of anybody else, reverently running his hand down Louis’ back as he watched his own cock going in and out of the Ashen.

Louis was understandably completely overwhelmed, but he never faltered. After a while of pure bliss, he lifted his head from Niall’s neck and spoke out to alert them of his impending orgasm. “I’m gonna knot,” he panted, earning a groan from both parties.

“Then so am I,” Harry grunted, still concentrating vigilantly on their timing so the flow wouldn’t be interrupted.

Louis cried out as his knot was forming while he felt Harry’s grow at the same time. Taking two knots had nothing on this feeling; knotting is one of the two most pleasurable things you can do, and receiving a knot was the other one…so Louis was in shambles.

Niall yelped and came hard as Louis locked them together, and Louis came twice as hard as Harry’s popped. Louis tore his teeth into Niall’s upper shoulder, and Harry took the same spot on Louis’ from behind him. For almost thirty seconds, Louis’ world was the best it would ever get, and nobody liked it when they came down from their highs, but all they could do was laugh out loud together from the unconventional heaven they’d just experienced with each other.

“Jesus Christ,” Niall exclaimed, giggling into Louis’ hair when he collapsed on top of him.

“That was incredible,” Zayn said from the doorway, startling all three of them with his unexpected and concerningly undetected presence.

“Shit, I didn’t even notice you,” Harry laughed, puckering his lips obviously until Zayn walked over and placed his own against them.

“You’ve found yourself in quite the puzzle,” Zayn noted, sharing a kiss with everyone else before backing up to observe their struggle.

“I got this… You both did really well,” Harry said proudly, kissing Louis’ back and carefully, _very carefully_  rolling them all onto their sides. He ignored Zayn’s breathless laughter throughout the whole process, and the connected wolves fidgeted around until they finally found a comfortable position.

Louis and Niall’s upper bodies couldn’t be as close as they would have chosen because they were facing each other, but Zayn was the glue to that problem. Harry wrapped Louis up in his arms while Louis caressed the blonde’s hands for comfort, and Zayn removed his shirt for optimum skin contact and took his place behind Niall. When the blonde had someone’s arms around him, he was wholly content.

“When is Liam coming home?” Harry asked out of curiosity, tickling Louis with breath on his neck.

“Well, it’s four in the afternoon. He doesn’t get off until five, so we’ve got an hour nap or so until we have to prepare ourselves for the casual scolding you’ll get,” Zayn replied.

“What does Liam do?” Louis asked, realizing he never even asked what any of them do for a living. “What the fuck—what do you guys _do_?”

“Liam works in a bowling alley, Niall is a courtesy clerk at Albertsons, Harry fixed cars, and I was a valet parker,” Zayn informed.

“Past-tense?” Louis asked, feeling stupid for not being up to date on the lives of the people he loved the most.

“Don’t feel bad, Lou,” Harry murmured, picking up on the wolf’s emotions. “We understand. This is real life, everything else may as well be a dream. It’s hard to believe we’re ever away from each other. It’s times like this when Liam is still gone that we really feel it…past-tense because we quit.”

“Why did you quit your jobs?” Louis asked, trying to twist his head back to speak directly to him, but he got a gentle hand pushing him back around as it combed through his hair.

“To protect you.”

“What!”

“Shh, Lou,” Zayn hushed, reaching over Niall to smooth his palm down Louis’ red cheek. “There have been sightings of what the council believes to be Russian hunters in Pennsylvania, and we need to focus you on your training because we’re not comfortable leaving you alone—even here. That’s why I just quit like an hour ago.”

“I can’t believe you guys would do something so stupid,” Louis grumbled, guiltily relieved he would have his life mates with him at all times.

“Look who’s talking, Mr. ‘Egg-Man deserved it,'” Harry teased, getting a snort in response.

“This is a delicate time, and we don’t have to work to be able to provide for ourselves. Our tribe will take care of us until this Organization business is out of the way,” Zayn assured, squashing Louis’ fear that they were being a burden to the pack by freeloading.

“Wait, out of the way? How? Are we just going to kill them? Do you think we can?” Louis asked quietly over the now lightly snoring Niall.

All the wolves smiled fondly at the tired little beauty, and made sure to keep their voices down as he slept in the middle of them. “That’s why we’re all training longer and more intensely than we ever have,” Zayn whispered.

“Starting tomorrow, you need to tell your parents that we think we’ve seen the Russian Organization, and then us three are going down into the garage to work harder than you probably thought possible, but we have no choice,” Harry said softly, fighting a yawn and letting himself relax completely.

Louis sighed dreamily as he was nuzzled by the warm Harry, and he only added a few more things before he would give up on the conversation. “No, don’t worry, I’m not complaining. I only want to get stronger as well. Someone has to protect you presumptuous idiots.”

Zayn grinned and took one of Louis’ hands to kiss it and return it to the tops of Niall’s where it had been. “Get some sleep, warrior.”

“I love you, Louis,” Harry added out of nowhere, stealing the air from Louis’ lungs.

The Ashen had still been staring at Zayn, and the raven-haired wolf nodded his head slowly to agree with Harry’s confession. “I love you too.”

Louis closed his eyes before they would be seen getting glossy and he giggled as quietly as he could, shyly whispering out a quiet, “You two are everything. I hope you know how I feel.”

Harry and Zayn both chuckled and reached their long arms down to collect the comforter and pull it up over them; all wolves, even the sleeping Niall, pleasantly shuddering at the soothing warmth.

“We do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why did I not make it pure ot5? I think it's because dynamics ESPECIALLY in polyamorous relationships shift all the time. I can think of a few times where me and a few people had a thing going on, but feelings change, and relationships and interactions evolve when you're not even paying attention, and suddenly everything is different - but that's okay, and it doesn't mean something failed. Just that it's different. I didn't want to keep it as ot5 as it was supposed to be because in my experience, it's just kind of the natural way of things to shift around.


	12. Close Call

“Are you sure?” Norman asked over the phone, in regards to Louis alerting him that Russian hunters have been spotted in Pennsylvania by the Kisharen tribe.

“Yeah, that’s what we’ve heard anyway. I don’t know, it seems like they may be tracing our steps?” Louis asked unsurely.

“Could be…” Norman agreed, pausing to get his thoughts in order. “Well, if that’s true, I think it would be best if I didn’t come back to your mansion anymore. You’re quite handy with the guns, and I don’t think you need anymore of my help—”

“Wait, hold up. Did you say _mansion_?” Louis asked incredulously, fighting the urge to erupt with laughter.

“Yeah, that’s what Jareth kept referring to it as,” Norman replied.

“It’s a damn hotel,” Louis corrected, rolling his eyes at Harry who merely shrugged from the other side of the room.

“Well, I know that, but it’s quite nice,” Norman contended, secretly agreeing that it was no mansion.

“Whatever. Just tell Mom that this is going on, maybe find a place to hide? I want to bring you in here, but I can’t endanger my tribe as much as I already have,” Louis said with a lamenting tone.

“I completely understand, Louis. That’s our view as well. If you asked, we would actually refuse. We can’t possibly encroach like that, and we’re not afraid either. We can handle this. Keep training and getting stronger, and we’ll figure all of this out when it comes to it, alright?” Norman said conclusively, fearing that if he kept this conversation going, he was likely to cry into the phone. He hated the thought of his darling boy in danger, but he’d been in danger ever since he was born. It just felt more real now.

“I love you guys, okay? Please be careful,” Louis said through some sniffles, leaning against Harry who had come to his aid at the first sign of distress.

“I love you too. I’ll have Mom call you when she gets back home, okay? Everything’s gonna be okay. I promise.”

“Mmmhm,” Louis said without confidence. “Bye, Dad.”

“Goodbye.”

Louis lowered the phone from his ear and stared at it until the screen went black, and only a single sob escaped his throat before Harry rushed to make it better.

“Louis, baby, look at me,” Harry cooed, taking Louis’ phone out of his hand and setting it on the windowsill, bending down to his eye level. “If they were the best hunters in the country, they’re bound to be able to take care of themselves. You should give them more credit.”

Louis pouted and wiped his nose with his sleeve, heaving his shoulders up and down in a long and exasperated sigh. “Yeah, I guess. But we don’t know exactly who we’re up against. They may have an idea, but they probably don’t really know what these people are capable of. What if they’re no match for them?” he wailed, linking his arms around Harry’s neck and silently crying into his shirt.

Harry softly hushed the Ashen as he shook, giving him the time he needed to get his emotions out. Once he’d calmed down, Harry pulled back and tried again. “I know it’s scary, but whether Jareth has announced it or not, this tribe will stand with your parents. If something happens, Atsila will help in any way we can. That’s our wolf way. And within this group—” he added, nodding with his chin to their general room, “—if someone messes with your parents, they’re directly messing with us. And we don’t tolerate getting fucked with. Never have. But that’s a drastic measure that would be taken. Try and think positive, we don’t know that will happen at all.”

“But—”

“Louis, look. These people are murderers…well, so were your parents…but the Russians are _current_ murderers. And they’re after you because of something you had no control over. Something you were born with. You’re learning how to handle your anger quite well, you’re no threat, but they’re coming after you anyway. That is absolutely despicable, and not even one of us would stand behind an idea like that. We’re all here for you,” he professed in a tone that begged Louis not to make a rebuttal.

“Even Grimshaw?” Louis sniffed despairingly, remembering he may have a few particular Atsilas who were no fans of his.

Harry chuckled and lifted a startled Louis into his arms, carrying him to the bed where they would likely mate to let off some steam. “Even Grimshaw.”

Louis was sat down on the bed with his superior next to him, offering every comfort in the world, but Louis only had his mind on one. “Harry, could you—”

“Do you want me to—”

“Yeah,” Louis said, both in perfect sync with each other and what they were suggesting.

Harry smiled and brushed Louis’ hair away from his face, holding his cheek and giving him the sweetest of kisses as he pawed at the wolf’s groin. Louis gasped into the kiss, but Harry only did it harder in return. When he’d had enough, he continued pressing his lips in a line to Louis’ ear, whispering to him the words that Louis so desperately wanted to hear in that moment: “Spread your legs.”

 

\---

 

Louis was currently in the training session where everything would go wrong, but he didn’t know that yet.

What he did know, is that fighting Harry, Zayn, Mick, and Jareth all at the same time was one of the most difficult feats he’d ever faced to date. It wasn’t like the movies where only one person comes at a time, because that’s just not even realistic…no, they were all over him all at once, and testing him beyond what he figured his limits would be.

Thing is, he was actually doing pretty well. All things considered. Sure, he had a few bruises because they were definitely not sugarcoating their strikes, but nobody had succeeded in pinning him down yet.

The problem was his quickly diminishing energy, because when it ran out entirely, it was like his wolf stretched its spine and took over for him. This wasn’t something anyone expected, and the worry was all over their features when Louis went from barely standing to radiating energy and power.

“Harry,” Jareth called out in the middle of the chaos, because now Louis was fighting back harder than ever, and if this got out of hand…

“Yeah,” Harry responded, tugging on the leash to keep him in check, but it scarily didn’t seem to work at all. “Louis!” he shouted, yanking on it with all of his might, only to be thrown across the room when Louis grabbed it and pulled it back.

He landed with a thud and yelped as the air was knocked out of his lungs. It didn’t take long for the bad to get worse, and by the time Harry lifted his neck to check the progress of the fight, Louis was already starting to shift.

“Shit,” Mick cursed, dragging Jareth away and getting as much distance between them as possible. “Harry, son, help him. Come on!”

Harry rose to his feet and viciously barked at the Ashen, trying everything he could think of to get through to him before the process was complete.

“Harry, it’s no good. We’re losing him,” Zayn warned, using all of his strength to hold Louis in one place before he’d inevitably have to back away. “Get over here, you’re his only shot!”

Harry grunted and sprinted forward, taking the screaming wolf in his arms and trying to make eye contact. “Louis? Louis, baby, can you hear me? Nikita? You have to stop, you can’t do this. Please come back before it’s too late,” he begged, sharing a terrified look with Zayn.

“Why isn’t it working?” the black-haired wolf asked with wide eyes, giving the leash a few futile tugs of his own.

“I-I don’t—”

Harry was cut off when Louis exploded into his wolf, causing the other two boys to jump away out of self-preservation. For a while, Louis just stood there snarling, saliva dripping down his chin and teeth exposed under trembling facial muscles. Every hair on his back was raised in anger, and his pose was entirely menacing, more so than Harry had ever seen. It was almost like he was rabid.

Against all better judgement, Harry quietly approached the wolf, having only a shadow of faith that he could make a difference, but he didn’t need much more than that to try.

Mick hadn’t seen his son approaching, but his heart stopped when he finally did, because Louis was not in any way himself right now, and that meant Harry was a stranger. Wolves and strangers have never mixed. “Harry, don’t!” he yelled fearfully, but it was too late.

Harry had stretched his hand out and put it directly on the Ashen’s hip, and the wolf lost his damn mind at the unexpected contact. He whipped around quicker than a gunshot and sharp claws slashed deep into Harry’s chest as he was catapulted backward for the second time.

Harry screamed out in agony as blood poured from his ghastly wound, and the other wolves didn’t care if they lost their damn lives, they needed to help him. “Get Kira. Now!” Zayn roared, dashing to his mate and dropping to his knees, tearing his shirt open to inspect the damage. Mick and Jareth may as well have teleported they were gone so fast, and the waiting game was on.

“Harry, oh god,” Zayn whimpered to the writhing leader as he looked at the blood all over his hands just from touching Harry once. “Why the fuck did you do that?”

“I feel so stupid, but I had to try,” Harry gritted painfully, realizing in shocked disbelief that this has the potential to be the end for him.

“It's okay, we're gonna get you help, please hold on, please,” Zayn pleaded when the injured wolf went still, knowing his world would be irreversibly darker without Harry in it.

“Tell Louis—it's not his fault,” Harry whispered weakly, smiling up at Zayn with glossy eyes.

When Louis heard his name from deep within the trapping clutches of his wolf, he broke free. It was like he was jarred awake from a nightmare and he scratched his way to the surface to take back control.

Zayn’s gaze shot to the thrashing and whining wolf, sobbing in relief when he was positive Louis was shifting back into himself. “He's coming back, Harry. Louis is coming back.”

Harry blinked slowly and made the smallest upturn with his lips, glad that at least one good thing came out of this catastrophe. “Tell him that I love him, and that I forgive him,” he slurred as his vision grew dark.

“Tell him yourself! Harry! Harry? Harry, hey, stay with me. Come on, don't do this!” Zayn yelled with a few slaps to his leader’s horrifically paled face. The blood flow from his chest still wasn't stopping at all, and it had now formed a gruesome puddle around him. His breathing was almost snuffed out like a candlelight, and if he didn't get help fast...

The wound itself was something straight out of a horror movie; three deep and wide gashes diagonally reaching from the side of his neck, all the way down to his opposite hip. It would take a lot to fix it, but they had to be able to. They had to.

 

~~~

 

Louis gasped for air when he arrived in his human self, looking around at his surroundings to discern what happened.

The Ashen’s eyes locked onto the body of his lover on the floor and he let out a cry of tortured despair, crawling to Harry’s mangled form with a broken heart. “Harry?” he whined, taking his place on the other side of Zayn and sitting right down in the puddle of blood without a care.

“Louis, it wasn’t you, alright? He’s going to be okay, don’t worry,” Zayn said, growing less confident as he watched more life ebb out of their Harry.

“It was,” Louis negated, sobbing at the haunting truth of this unspeakable act. “It was me...oh god, Harry. Not my Harry,” he wailed, dropping his head onto Harry’s uninjured shoulder in defeat. “No, no, no, no, Harry! What have I done?”

“He’s alive, he’s just…Kira is on her way, she’ll fix him, I know she will,” Zayn said, unable to stop his flow of devastated tears either.

“There’s no time,” Louis said hopelessly, getting nauseous from the potent smell of blood in the air. If only they could do something to stop the flow, but putting pressure on it wouldn't be enough. Not with an open wound this size.

Wait.

Louis sharply inhaled when he thought about the word blood enough times for an idea to click. If his clan had the power to give their abilities and genes to humans because of the supreme magic in their blood, maybe Louis, the last remaining member, could save another wolf the same way.

Louis didn’t know the extent of his blood, and what it had the capacity to do, but this was their last damn shot. “Zayn, I’m an Ashen.”

“I…I know that,” Zayn said in confusion, not at all understanding the relevance.

Louis extended his canines and shoved them deep into his own wrist while he maintained eye contact with Zayn until the wolf understood the insinuation. “Is that going to work?” he asked hopefully, willing to do anything to save his best friend.

Louis couldn’t answer because he had a mouthful of his own blood, and he turned Harry’s face up as he smashed their lips together, making sure he deposited it all into the back of his throat.

It seemed like forever to get a reaction, but Zayn will never forget the moment that Harry’s Adam’s apple moved to swallow the Ashen blood that Louis was gifting to him.

Louis pulled away with a happy gasp and slashed his nails across his arm so that more blood would fall directly onto Harry’s wounds. Life was creeping back into the leader’s features and his eyes moved behind his eyelids until he opened them slowly, blinking away the blurry view until everything was in vivid sharpness. Really damn vivid, actually…

“Louis?” he croaked, smiling when both of his mates’ faces appeared right over his.

“Hi, Harry,” Louis cried, quickly sucking out more blood from his arm and going in for a kiss again.

Harry closed his eyes and accepted more, gulping down what was becoming an adrenaline shot for him. He softly pushed Louis away when he felt an odd sensation at his chest and he lifted his neck to witness the impossible. His wounds were closing. They were healing. All wolves heal fast, but not this fast. Certainly not with this magnitude of injury...

Louis sighed in relief and wiped the blood off his arm when his gashes closed too, waiting for Harry to get back into peak condition.

“Louis,” Harry breathed in fascination, feeling better with each passing moment. Louis scooted up close and held the hand against his cheek that Harry had reached out to touch him with.

“I’m so sorry,” Louis whined, his shoulders trembling with regret. “I almost killed you.”

“Maybe you did,” Harry admitted, discovering he could actually sit all the way up once the wounds were gone. He grabbed the Ashen and pulled him into his lap, hushing his cries and taking Zayn’s hand to yank him into their embrace where he belonged. “But you saved me, baby,” he added into Louis’ ear, grinning when it only made the Ashen cry harder. “You brought me back.”

“Harry!” Mick cried as Jareth, Dean, and Kira skidded to a stop behind him. Kira had what looked like a monstrously heavy bag thrown around her shoulders and she carefully dropped it in exhaustion when she discovered it thankfully wouldn’t be needed.

“What happened?” Jareth asked in awe, joining Mick on the ground next to the trio.

“How are you alright, Harry?” Dean asked in bewilderment.

Harry shrugged and removed Louis from his lap, keeping him close and regarding his Alpha with a clueless expression. “Louis saved me,” he said simply.

“He’s also the one who put you in danger in the first place,” Mick said harshly, trying to apologize with his eyes to the Ashen but they both knew it was true.

“Sure, but he’s the only one that could have saved me too. So no, it wouldn’t have happened otherwise, but if he wasn’t there, I don’t think I would have made it,” Harry guessed, nuzzling into Zayn’s chest when he scooted forward to be his support.

“He wouldn’t have. I saw it all. Louis gave Harry his blood, and it cured his wounds almost instantly. It was insane,” Zayn announced.

“You have Ashen blood?” Kira squeaked, running over to look Harry in the eyes. “How do you feel?” she demanded as she tilted his chin up and shined a random flashlight into his face.

“My senses are stronger,” he said carefully, trying to keep his eyes open long enough against the blinding light for Kira to find or not find whatever she was looking for.

“Babe, look at this,” the mage said quietly to Jareth, who leaned over to see what she was seeing. “Specks of blue.”

“Whoa, really?” Louis asked in interest, standing up on his knees to gaze with them. “It’s true,” he confirmed to Harry, his mouth dropping open the longer he looked. “Your eyes are green and blue now.”

“Are you angry?” Mick asked cautiously, afraid of losing his son to the same thing that plagued his mate.

“No, I’m not angry,” Harry chuckled, finally pushing the flashlight out of the way in irritation…but that was understandable. “I feel fine, thanks to Louis.”

“What exactly does this mean?” Dean asked Kira just as Jareth was about to, hoping to receive some of her enlightening and never-ending knowledge.

Kira shrugged and shoved the light back into her pocket, straightened to her full height and squinting down at Harry in thought. “Not much. It just means he has a hybrid bloodline now. Not terribly common, but certainly not unheard of. He’ll get a little bit of Louis’ power, and that part’s concerning, because we don’t know which powers. I swear, if I have to do another binding ceremony on these two again, only reversing it this time, I will laugh for the rest of my life.”

“I won’t need it,” Harry said surely, getting a feel for his new inner strength. “And I can control Louis now, mark my words on that.”

“I hope so,” Louis said under his breath to the side, getting everyone’s attention. “Well I do. I did this, I don’t ever want to do something like that again. That was fucking terrible,” he whined.

“You need to be reminded who you answer to,” Harry replied, shoving Louis down against the ground.

“You guys better get out of here,” Zayn warned to their older wolf company, and they scrambled away at once.

“Just don’t break anything,” Jareth called as the elevator doors closed.

“Can’t promise that,” Harry growled menacingly, slowly pulling Louis up by his leash and licking his lips as he plotted how to assert his dominance in the most brutal way possible. “Now, my little violent one…what shall I do with you?”

 

\---

 

Louis was the very definition of fucked-out and he wheezed to catch his breath, now absolutely covered in Harry’s blood because they’d been rolling around in it for well over an hour. Zayn was filthy too, and when all was said and done, they could only laugh at each other for the ridiculously rough mating they’d just had.

“Fucking god, Harry,” Louis muttered, dropping onto his chest with Zayn wincing behind them. “Oh, sorry Zayn,” the Ashen called over his shoulder, shuddering when Zayn pushed his knot back in all the way to be with Harry’s.

“S’ok,” Zayn panted, trying to flick his head to a spot away from the bloody floor. “Can we just—like—go over there?” he suggested.

Harry rolled his eyes because Zayn was making his life extremely difficult, but he agreed and crab-walked his way out of the puddle with a frantic Zayn trying to keep up and a calm Louis lazing on Harry’s torso. They relaxed, if you could call it that, on the cold ground for about forty-five minutes until the wolves’ knots went down and they pulled out of Louis at the same time to give him as much discomfort as humanly /lycanly/ possible.

The Ashen whined and pouted from the emptiness, but he gave up when he realized the wolves didn’t care one bit about his suffering. This mess was his fault in the first place, so he set his mouth in a straight line and hushed his complaints.

“We need the longest shower ever documented,” Zayn said, looking them all up and down in distaste. Note how he didn’t say disgust…just distaste.

“Let’s take the elevator back to our floor then. It pops out pretty close to 428, we should be able to get there without any interruptions,” Harry said, standing and pulling Louis up his body to sit on his hip like a baby. He had one strong arm under Louis’ backside and the Ashen grumbled as he situated his cock so it wasn’t smushed and dropped his arms around his leader’s shoulders.

“It’s risky, Harry,” Zayn hesitantly, every possible awkward scenario popping into his mind.

“So? Wolves are wolves. We fuck a lot. Let’s go,” he pressed, walking with his Louis to the elevator and smearing blood on the up button.

“We look like we’ve just come from a vampire convention,” Zayn grumbled, wrapping his arms around his body and stepping into the shaft against his common sense.

“A vampire convention? What does that even mean?” Harry cackled, stealing Zayn’s lips in a messy kiss. “You know that’s _my_ blood that’s all over you, right? Try using some respect when you talk about it. That blood is by default your blood’s superior. Stop being such a little bitch,” he teased, facing back to the doors while Louis licked at his neck submissively.

Leave it to Anne to be waiting at the elevator to get down to the lounge.

Harry hadn’t noticed the elevator actually stopped on three instead of four, and when the doors opened and Anne caught sight of three naked and grotesquely bloodied wolves, including her damn son...this time it was just too much.

“HARRY, WHAT THE FUCK!” Anne shrieked ragefully, jumping back and slapping her hands over her face. “YOU’VE REALLY OUTDONE YOURSELF THIS TIME!” she continued to scream, blindly slapping at the elevator buttons to close the doors.

“Sorry, Mom,” Harry said with a tight throat, admitting that this particular situation was a bit visually scarring.

“Mick told me what happened, and thank fucking god you’re alive, because now I can kill you myself! I’m slapping the shit out of you for this one,” she shouted in spite of being traumatized, heaving a shuddery and disgusted sigh when the doors were finally closed. “Have a wolfchild, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.”

 

~~~

 

Zayn had been frozen solid that entire time, and Louis had hidden in Harry’s neck until it was safe to come out. They didn’t say anything until they unanimously burst into stomach-cramping laughter to cope with their amusement and terrible shame.

They managed to briskly walk down the hall to 428 without any other complaints, but Liam and Niall certainly squeaked when they swept into the room in their horrific condition. “Jesus fucking dinglebats, what happened to you guys?” Niall gasped, earning a look of judgement from every wolf in the room.

“...Dinglebats...” Zayn repeated in confusion, too tired to ask for an explanation. “Come on, babes. Shower time,” he called as he disappeared into the suite bathroom, flipping the nozzle around to start the warm stream of water.

“Guys, are you okay?” Niall asked timidly, having only heard whispers about what actually happened.

“I…” Louis began, quickly getting overcome with guilt.

“Louis lost control a little bit,” Harry supplied for him, making a point to turn in a circle to show he was unharmed. “I got caught in the crossfire, but Louis saved my life. He brought me back, and I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him, regardless of whose fault it is.”

Louis gave him a grateful smile and left the room to join Zayn in the shower. Zayn took him into his arms and stood him under the hot water, letting it wash away the remnants of what was almost an irreversible tragedy.

“Harry…” Liam said hesitantly, on the fence about whether Louis can be trusted in light of his uncontrollable instincts.

“Liam, it’s fine,” Harry said with no room for argument, walking up closer so they wouldn’t be overheard. “I’m stronger now than I was. He’s never getting to that point again. Look at my eyes,” he requested as he bent forward.

Liam walked his knees across the mattress with Niall to inspect the unknown, and they both choked at the ocean blue specks that dotted his brilliantly green irises. “You’re an Ashen now?” Liam breathed in shock.

“I’m an Ashen now.”

Nobody said anything else so Harry grinned and walked to the bathroom, throwing up a peace sign behind him. Liam stayed in his position for a good thirty seconds, running through all the beneficial and detrimental things this could bring. He eventually gave up the ‘what ifs’ and fell over sideways, bouncing off the mattress and turning to stare at the ceiling. Niall crawled into his side, and he immediately wrapped his arms around his love, mind still reeling no matter how much he tried to forget about it. _Jesus fucking dinglebats._

 

~~~

 

“Ah, there’s our Harry,” Zayn said happily, helping him into the shower and sitting him down on the built-in bench.

“I _can_ stand, you know,” Harry grumbled, finding it difficult to complain when his wolves started massaging his skin with soap.

“We know,” Louis said, sitting down and working on his legs. “You can also sit.”

Harry smiled and closed his eyes, letting his head fall back against the tiles and relaxing his limbs as they were moved every which way. When every drop of blood was washed down the drain, the three lovers sat down on the shower floor, huddled up together and speaking to each other with everything but words.

Zayn was mindlessly placing kisses on Louis’ hands and arms as he nuzzled them with his face, and Harry was resting his head on the Ashen’s shoulder while taking deep and relaxing breaths, all three the picture of tranquility.

Louis broke the silence when he ran out of peaceful smiles to give, because he obviously still had immensely important things on his mind. And one of those things involved his arm nuzzler. “Zayn,” he said softly, smiling when the wolf’s brown eyes locked onto him. He carded his hand through Zayn’s sleek and wet black hair, trailing it down his face and letting it drop onto the tiles.

“What is it, my love?” Zayn asked, sharing a confused look with Harry over Louis’ curved spine. The wolf had curled in on himself, and it took both of his superiors to push him back up. “Louis?”

Louis sighed and stared straight ahead, nervous to make this suggestion, but convinced that he needed to. “You can say no…but I want to make you Ashen too,” Louis said in a rush, not daring to look at their faces to see the reaction.

Zayn was truthfully overjoyed because he had only continued to feel more and more left out with every special event that Harry and Louis shared together. He grabbed Louis’ chin and grinned so wide that Louis would need to be blind not to know he was happy about it. “I’d love to be a part of you like that, Lou.”

“Really? You would? I just don’t want you to be alone. Harry was an accident, but if we’re both Ashen, and you’re not...it feels wrong. Something’s not right, and I think that would fix it,” Louis said with a look of determination on his face.

“How do you want me?” Zayn asked eagerly, switching spots with Harry so the stream of water wasn’t touching him. Harry stood up and pointed the nozzle away; it was a huge shower, so none of them were uncomfortable or still getting hit with water.

Louis didn’t seem to know how to go about it, because he didn’t want to actually injure him, but Zayn made his mind up for him. By presenting his wrist. “Zayn!” Louis gasped, pushing his arm away, “I can’t bite you! You’re my—”

“I don’t care,” Zayn said with a smirk, giving up their regimented dynamic and following his heart. He pushed his wrist back under Louis’ mouth and gave him an encouraging wink. “Make me yours, Louis.”

Louis kept hesitating until he made the conclusion that if it’s what they both want, then there’s no logical reason to prevent it from becoming a reality. He reached out and took Zayn by the underside of his wrist, sliding his other hand up Zayn’s arm to hold just before his elbow. He scooted in closer to make it easier and bent down to the unmarked wrist, sharing one last look with his mate to be beyond the shadow of a doubt that this was still acceptable.

“Do it,” Zayn said with a single nod of his head, giving the Ashen a loving smile while Harry hooked his chin over Zayn’s shoulder to witness the momentous event.  

Louis took a deep breath and extended his teeth, passing the point of no return and marking his superior, which he previously thought was inconceivable, but things change.

Zayn moaned from the pain because he was a bit of a freak himself, and Harry deviously decided to take care of the wolf’s erection with an adventurous hand. Zayn felt like closing his eyes and tilting his head back to lean on Harry’s shoulder to revel in the pleasure, but he more so wanted to watch the process at his wrist, so he kept his attention on the Ashen the whole time.

When Louis knew he’d bitten deep enough, he released Zayn’s wrist and bit into his own instead, taking a fair amount of his blood into his mouth and making sure that there would be a good flow out of it when he pulled away.

Zayn’s heart was pounding in his chest, but he wanted this more than anything, so he welcomed the thumps. Louis moved fast to align their wrists and mix their blood, earning a choked gasp from Zayn for the unprecedented rush of power he felt course through his nervous system. Harry chuckled because he’d been there and understood what it was like, and he yanked Zayn’s head back to get him into the ideal position for Louis’ kiss.

Louis kept their wrists together and rose to his knees, grabbing Zayn by the neck and locking their lips together, passing his Ashen heritage over to his mate with a sensual moan from both wolves in the act.

Zayn swallowed the robust flavoured blood, and his eyes flew open from the earth-shattering rush of vitality to his soul. Louis opened his eyes as well because he didn’t want to miss the changing of Zayn’s irises, and Harry leaned around to get a good look too.

Unbeknownst to Zayn, Harry and Louis watched as Zayn’s pupils dilated to full black and then retracted, leaving a striking blue colour around the edges and keeping a smaller ring of his original brown directly outside of the pupil.

Zayn broke the kiss and panted as his senses went haywire, leaning over onto his hands and knees to try and bring his energy levels down. “Is this what you feel like all the time?” he asked incredulously, shaking his head when Louis smirked and nodded his head. “My god. And this is only a fraction, I bet. I can’t believe how strong you actually are. I never knew it was like this.”

Louis was mildly surprised to hear that what he had experienced as a wolf was so different from everyone else’s daily perception. It was even stranger to think that what they were feeling now, no matter how much more intense it was than before for them, it _still_ wasn’t identical to Louis’ full power…that’s incredible. No wonder the Ashen tried to take over the world. Not that Louis would ever have that goal, but he can kind of see where they were coming from now.

“I can feel everything,” Zayn breathed in wonder, sharing amused looks with his two mates and stealing Louis’ wrist to lick more blood from it. Harry joined too and Louis giggled at the two tongues tickling his skin, pulling back when his wound healed and there was nothing left to drink.

“Are we ready for bed yet?” Louis asked with a yawn, laughing at Zayn’s look of disbelief.

“How could you sleep with this coursing through your veins all the time? I feel like I could lift a car over my head.”

“I know how you feel, Z. I guess we’ll just have to try,” Harry said, pulling both wolves up and doing one final wash of their skin with the gradually chilling water. As soon as they were squeaky clean, they all tumbled out of the shower and wrapped each other in towels, stealing kisses from each other every few moments.

When they were dried, they stepped out of the steamy bathroom into the cold living room air, discovering that Niall and Liam went to one of their rooms together, so they had the beds all to themselves. “How come we’ve never slept in one of your rooms?” Louis asked his mates, who shrugged nonchalantly.

“Because it’s never been practical. We mated you here, this is where our beautiful relationship began, it only makes sense to keep building more experiences here,” Zayn theorized, jumping under the covers and cutely beckoning his mates to hurry up and join him.

Louis took the usual middle spot and Harry crawled in afterward, sighing against the Ashen’s back and continuing to survey his new instincts. Louis meanwhile had pulled Zayn’s wrist out into the open and was inspecting it reverently, turning it every which way and smirking. “Does this mean I get to knot you?” he asked coyly.

Zayn spluttered and pulled his wrist back, thinking it over and giving it back right away. “We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it,” he said vaguely, glaring at Harry for his amused snort.

“It’s good to be King,” Harry teased, picking up his alarm clock and hurling it at the lamp to break the light bulb.

Zayn made a very offended and indignant squeak into the darkness, reaching over to punch Harry in his arm because he could still see him perfectly with these new eyes. “For all the times you’ve yelled at me for that shit. And you do the exact same fucking thing,” he grumbled in annoyance.

“I believe I told _you_ never to do it again. When did I say it about myself?” Harry challenged, holding in his laughter expertly.

“You’re so…”

“Amazing? Phenomenal? Perfect?”

“Infuriating.”

Both Harry and Louis laughed at the banter, and Zayn let out a chuckle because the musical laughs of his mates were way too much to handle with a straight face.

“I love you both,” Louis professed, giving them each an affectionate kiss on the lips before closing his eyes for the sleep that they still considered impossible. “Believe, and you shall achieve,” he said when he knew they were still awkwardly staring into the darkness.

Both wolves rolled their eyes but trusted in their Ashen, each grabbing a hold of Louis’ leash to show that even though Louis had given them power, he was still their submissive. “Yeah, yeah, I know,” Louis promised. “I’m yours. And I’m not complaining.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the guilt is real


	13. Ty Mudak

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kept picturing Act My Age playing throughout this whole bar fight, haha rippppp. Couldn't stop laughing.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Louis asked nervously, standing still while his mates hopped into their jeans.

“Fuck yes, it is!” Harry declared confidently, scurrying into the bathroom to fix his iconically messy hair. He does mess it like that on purpose, by the way. It’s a calculated and meticulous practice. Louis wants you to know that.

Zayn seemed just as sure that they wouldn’t run into any problems, but the other three just weren’t convinced yet.

“Okay, first of all, you’re new Ashens. From what I saw all day, you’re not used to it. Secondly, it’s two nights before the full moon, so you’re overly excited, which isn’t always a good thing…I don’t know. Do you really think going to a dive bar is a wise choice in your conditions?” Louis scolded rationally, ducking when a hairbrush was hurled at his head.

“Louis, if you name one more god damned reason why it’s a bad idea, I will plug you and make you sit in a bar stool all night,” Harry threatened, presenting the plug from the drawer it lived in with devious intentions in his mixed eyes.

“You don’t need to plug me, I’ll shut up,” Louis huffed with a dramatic roll of his eyes. “BUT! I just want you to know that if anything goes wrong, I’m not taking care of it. Not my fucking problem, I warned you.”

“It’s our job to take care of _you_ , love. Or did you forget that?” Zayn purred, raking his teeth across Louis’ neck from behind.

“Yeah, we’re only half Ashen? You’re the real deal, sugar. Worry about yourself,” Harry agreed, finally deeming himself ready and showing off his choice of clothing.

“Yes, you’re beautiful, can we go now?” Louis said tonelessly, breaking out of Zayn’s hold and kneeling to tie his vans. “I have no idea what this dynamic has turned into,” he muttered, glancing around at everyone in the room. “What exactly have we turned into?”

“We’re just one big family, Lou. Doesn’t really matter much anymore, I can still fuck whomever I want,” Harry said smugly.

“Times have changed,” Zayn supplied, mindlessly scrolling through his phone while he waited for everyone else.

“It’s because you got stronger,” Niall informed, the only one who had studied their shifting relations objectively. “Zayn and Liam finally broke their rivalry, and I stuck with Liam—and you ended up with the two strongest bozos that now share your blood, and remain the _only_ lycans who even have a hope to control you when you go all rabid psycho.”

“Thank you, Niall. What a thrilling recap,” Louis deadpanned, grabbing everything he needed and snapping his fingers to get his mates’ attention. “I’m ready.”

“TO THE BAR!” Harry yelled gleefully, swinging the door open and running down the hall.

“Is he always like that about bars?” Louis asked a much more slowly moving Zayn to his side.

“The combination of Harry and alcohol is generally a religious experience to be witness to. I hope you’re ready. It’s a bad idea for more reasons than one I guess I should say…”

“So we shouldn’t have done it,” Louis noted, gulping at all the potential catastrophes it could bring.

“You kidding?” Zayn negated, furrowing his eyebrows and looking at Louis like he was speaking another language. “And _miss_ it?”

 

\---

 

All five wolves swept into the dimly lit bar, and Louis hadn’t been wrong when he said dive bar. The first thing their ears perceived was the blaring tones of _Sweet Home Alabama_ so that can give you a clue about what kind of establishment it was.

Harry practically skipped up to the counter and hurled himself into the stool, slapping a twenty on the wooden surface and demanding, “Three shots of Irish Whiskey!”’

The bartender shook his head in annoyance but snagged the money and messily spilled the shots into the glasses he’d dropped on the bar. Anyone with that kind of confidence clearly didn’t need to be carded.

Harry was nothing but smiles as Zayn and Louis joined him on the neighboring stools, and he barely noticed that Liam and Niall had decided to take a booth instead.

“I hope you like whiskey,” Harry said to Louis as an afterthought. “I guess I just assumed everyone did, but you’re Russian. Would you want vodka instead?”

Louis slapped his hand against his forehead and snorted at the question. “Yes, I’m Russian. But I’m literally only Russian by circumstantial origination. That’s my heritage, but I didn’t grow up around anything Russian, so no, I wouldn’t automatically prefer vodka, you dingus,” he muttered, snatching his shot off the bar and holding it up for a cheers.

“Me, I prefer cognac, but that’s a lot more expensive, so I thought whiskey might—”

“Can we just take the fucking shots now?” Louis demanded, forcefully clinking his glass with Zayn and Harry’s and downing the fiery beverage in one go. The other two wolves rushed to keep it simultaneous, and they all slammed their glasses down victoriously.

Harry wordlessly motioned the bartender back right away, and the look of hesitation Louis was wearing on his face quickly disappeared when he witnessed his masters knock their shots back without a second thought.

He was not going to be outdone.

 

\---

 

Twenty minutes later, they were what one might consider ‘shitfaced.' And admittedly, the term ‘might’ could potentially be a bit of a stretch; it’s probably more in the ‘definitely’ realm, but who needs details?

Louis’ eyes kept drifting off to a group of twenty or so men at the pool tables on the other side of the establishment, but neither of his superiors had noticed until now, when the spacey Ashen wasn’t answering any of their questions.

“Louis, are you hearing us?” Zayn asked, getting in his face and making himself impossible to miss.

“What?” Louis asked, looking back and forth between Harry and Zayn with practiced innocence.

“It’s not important,” Harry excused, following the Ashen’s previous line of sight. “Are you any good?”

“Good? Good at what?” the Ashen slurred.

“ _Pool_ , you—” Zayn exasperated, stopping himself and holding back a snarky insult.

“I’ve never played,” Louis admitted, leaning to the side to get the games back in view, “but I still reckon I could beat them.”

Harry chuckled into his beer that he’d ordered after finishing the liquor bottle.

The bartender had been extremely reluctant to give him a beer for several reasons, but mostly because the three patrons had just finished off a full bottle of Irish Whiskey in a matter of ten minutes. They seemed fine all things considered, which was puzzling, but the bartender just chalked it up to being young alcoholics and he surrendered the ale anyway.

Zayn noticed and ordered a beer as well, but Louis was distracted. He didn’t need alcohol, he needed victory.

“I’m going,” Louis announced, sliding off his stool and stumbling his way to the pool tables, catching the munching Liam and Niall’s attention as he went.

“Where’s he going?” Niall asked with his mouth full of petrol station-quality nachos.

“Come on, you two. Time to go validate our greatness,” Harry declared, walking over and pulling both wolves out of the booth by their shirts.

Niall and Liam followed subserviently, arriving at the pool tables that Louis was making a scene at.

“I couldn’t help but notice your games are all over, but I don’t think you’ve had enough yet. You with the flame tattoos, I figure I could beat you, and I’m willing to put fifty bucks on it,” he said haughtily while he pointed at a large, foreboding looking fellow.

“Yeah?” the man asked, fishing out two twenties and a ten and setting them under his beer on the side of the game table. “You’re on, pipsqueak.”

Louis’ heart stopped when the man spoke, because his tone was undoubtedly heavy and thick with a Russian drawl. Louis eyed his kin and found they also appeared a little wary, but none of them showed it on their face; Louis could just feel their emotions. “Right,” the Ashen said with less confidence, walking to the wall to carefully pick out his cue stick.

The Ashen took his sweet time picking the right one, even rolling them on the surface of the table to make sure none of them were bent. When he couldn’t dawdle any longer, he grabbed the cue chalk and struck it across the tip of his stick.

“Are you done yet?” the Russian asked boredly, having already been ready about two minutes ago.

“Da, ty mudak,” Louis replied, not even realizing he’d just responded in Russian.

“What am I for?” the man shot back, puffing out his chest like an agitated bird. “The only asshole here is you!”

“Kak?” Louis defended, getting stolen by an apologetic Harry for a small chat.

“Louis, you’re speaking in Russian,” Harry hissed, staring at Louis’ mouth like it was a never before seen invention.

“KAK?!” Louis squeaked, frantically trying to reset his brain. “Ja ne znaju! Ya ne ponimaju—”

“ _English_ , Louis,” Harry barked with a jarring slap across the Ashen’s face.

Louis made a particularly indignant whimper, but turned his face back to Harry and tried once more. “I do not underst—” he began extremely slowly, getting cut off by his impatient superior.

“Yeah, you’re in the right language. Now go play pool, we gotta figure out who these Ruskies are,” Harry demanded, giving the shell shocked wolf a nudge in the right direction.

Louis gulped and nodded to no one in particular as he shuffled back to the tables. He held his head higher when the attention was back on him, and gave his forced apology. In English.

“Sorry, I don’t speak Russian. I was reciting what I heard from some friend,” he said painfully vaguely, but luckily the main Russian man just scoffed and accepted the apology.

“Break ze balls,” he said, stepping back and giving Louis room to give a good break.

Harry had quickly challenged someone on another table, and Zayn took the third, so all three of them were fighting for their honour by betted games. Louis hit hard and the balls dispersed perfectly. So perfectly in fact that he somehow managed to pocket two solids at once, therefore calling the ball type and putting himself ahead right off the bat.

He shot again and got another ball to the chorused gasps of the Russians, who were apparently offended that Louis was doing so well for how drunk he was. Louis figures if he wasn’t drunk at all, he’d probably be capable of making the most complex trick shots in existence; human physics meant nothing to him anymore.

 

\---

 

The game went on in much the same way; Louis only missing a few times when there were no clear and obvious shots, and absolutely annihilating everything else. Now the only ball left for Louis to sink was the iconic eight ball, and he felt pretty confident about it considering the Russian still had six balls to get through before he could try too.

However, this made it slightly difficult for Louis because he couldn’t see a shot for him that didn’t consequently knock one of the stripes in along with the eight ball. With some fierce faith and calculated envisioning, he miraculously curved the ball so that it rolled in a large half-circle, effectively evading all other balls to collide with the black ball and win him the game.

The million-dollar shot surprised even himself, but the Russians were furious. “Blyat!” the man growled, throwing the cue stick against the table only to be picked up by the next challenger.

“Me next,” the smaller man demanded, chalking his cue stick and glaring at Louis as he set fifty more dollars down under the beer.

Louis rolled his eyes and pulled out the last of his cash, knowing he would just get it back anyway so it didn’t really matter. He was full of excitement and confidence, but the first Russian was a bit reluctant to let his friend take the chance.

“Ivan,” he said in a serious manner, “ze Organization didn’t geeve us American money to waste on stupid boy wees talent for pool,” he scolded, apparently excusing himself from having done the exact same thing.

Louis’ lips slightly parted in surprise because was this a confirmation? Were these the Russian hunters that were after his life? That killed his Clan? The Ashen stayed silent as the hunters argued amongst themselves, but he shifted his eyes to his brothers to see they were all equally concerned by hearing the word ‘Organization,' and were valiantly fighting to control their natural instincts. To kill.

“— It’s tomorrow,” Louis caught the first Russian say, while Ivan seemed to be slowly getting won over by logic.

“What’s tomorrow? The full moon?” Louis asked with a smirk, shocking hunters and wolves alike with his blatancy.

“What you know of this?” Ivan asked with murder in his eyes, getting pushed behind the first man.

“Igor!” Ivan shouted in annoyance, yearning for his shot at the boy, but not willing to defy his leader.

“Zatknis’!” Igor snapped, shutting his subordinate up instantly because he had to do what he was told. “Who are you?” he asked Louis suspiciously, backing up when Louis jumped up onto the pool table and stalked forward.

Harry and Zayn dropped their games—that they were winning—and the sneaky Niall swiped all of the cash back when everyone’s attention was elsewhere.

“Louis,” Zayn warned, dangerously tempted to pull him back by his leash, but that act would leave no room for doubt, and they could still walk away without a fight if they were careful.

Drunk Harry didn’t quite feel the same. “Yeah, you should be scared _shitless_ , you fatass Vodka chuggers. Nikita here is going to kill you all,” he goaded, grabbing onto the leash and holding Louis from going any further until the opportune moment arose.

Louis growled over his shoulder at his master, but the words of Igor shot him back to their company.

“Nikita?” Igor repeated, skeptical that they’d actually found the Ashen on their first week.

Louis’ eyes flashed their brilliant blue, and the hunters looked a combination of hungry, relieved, and absolutely terrified. “Ashen. Menya zovut Nikita Koshkov Ashen,” Louis confirmed in what he thought was English.

Atsila’s opponents were speechless to have their suspicions verified so unexpectedly, and Louis was almost visibly shaking with the need to fight. “Harry, please,” he whined, jumping off the pool table and fighting against his leash.

Harry met Zayn’s eyes warily because this could end in flames, but both superiors’ anger levels were skyrocketing to match the true Ashen’s, and it was getting notably harder to suppress. The Ashen blood within them was boiling and crackling with anticipation to join the cause, so Harry pulled Louis into him and nuzzled his neck, whispering in his ear the word that Louis was whimpering for.

“Go.”

Louis lunged forward and Harry made a show of letting go of the only thing that had been protecting the hunters’ lives. He threw his arm out and the leash disappeared, and Louis was on Ivan faster than a jumping spider.

Before the humans could process what was happening, all the other wolves had joined the fight, and the most violent bar fight in existence was officially on. Every unrelated customer fled the establishment, including the old bartender, so the wolves were left to their own defenses, but it’s not like they would have needed help anyway.

Bottles were shattering, tables were breaking, blood was dripping, skin was getting bruised, and Louis was grinning like a lunatic. The more skilled hunters pulled back and called for backup right away, but it was always a hopeless fight for them. They ran into an Ashen and two half-blood Ashens judging by the eyes _one night_ before the full moon. Whose fault is it _really_?

Louis slapped Igor’s phone right out of his hands before the man could even finish dialing his leader’s number, and punched his fat face like it was dough, smashing the disgusting hunter up against a wooden pillar of the building.

Igor snarled impressively for a human from the sudden attack, and Louis was yanked back by his leash into Harry’s arms and flung behind the bar before the hunter had even pulled his weapon out. The superior had been keeping a close eye on Louis’ fight, and when he saw Igor reach behind his slacks, Harry knew shit was about to go down.

“What the _fuck_ , Harry?” Louis demanded, trying to climb back over the bar to return to the battle.

Harry growled and tackled him back to the ground, protectively shielding him with his body just as Igor raised his weapon at them. “Stay down!” he commanded, covering Louis’ ears.

Zayn took a leap of faith over the bar to shove his back against it and help Louis and Harry load their guns while they were distracted with each other. Niall and Liam retreated and tipped a table over on its side to hide behind while Liam prepared his guns for the upcoming fire fight.

The Russians shot first, as if anyone would have expected differently. Bottles of alcohol on the shelves above the trio wolves exploded from the impact of the bullets, sending shards of glass and liquid silver flying in every direction, and Harry never moved from his protective smother.

Until Louis ordered him to. “I am your Ashen. Get the fuck off of me. This is my fight,” he roared to his superior who shook his head and held him tighter.

Zayn took a deep breath and spun around onto his feet to try and find a target worth shooting at. Louis winced because Zayn’s gun was going off so close to them, and wolves had sensitive ears, but he was itching his fire his own.

“Harry, it is his fight,” Zayn mentioned when he crouched back down to reload, siding with Louis on this matter because he knew the Ashen was stronger than they were, and could probably handle a room full of Russians by himself. Not to mention his near perfect aptitude for anything gun related. “We need to ignore our natural instincts. He’s gonna be fine, let him fight.”

Harry whined in disagreement but released the wolf out from under him and took his weapons in reluctance. “Fine,” he relented, deciding to cover Louis instead of give him a bodyguard like he wanted to. They waited until the gunfire ceased and immediately jumped through the window of opportunity. “Now!” Harry shouted, all three wolves emerging from behind the counter and the superiors unleashing all their firepower.

Louis on the other hand was patiently waiting for his chance. He had both of his guns pointed at the tables that concealed the Russians, just begging for one of them to pop up like a gopher so he could actually start decreasing their numbers instead of wasting bullets.

Sure enough, a tentative Ivan peeked his head over the table to get a view of their situation, and it was just the top of his head that was in range, but it was enough.

Louis thoughtlessly squeezed his trigger and sent it straight into Ivan’s brain, killing him instantly. The Ashen heard a chorus of “blyats” and “der’mos” coming from the hunter’s comrades; words that he mysteriously understood, but he couldn’t currently care about it for several reasons.

He couldn’t care about the confounding comprehension he possessed of the Russian language without having any prior lessons because now was simply not the time to be pondering the possibilities.

And he couldn’t care about the fact that he’d just murdered a human because he didn’t see it as a crime. No matter how many times "you just killed someone" played on a loop in his mind, Ivan was no different than a paper target to him, and he couldn’t give a shit that he’d taken a life. He’d probably saved a few in doing so, but either way, Nikita was now a cold-hearted killer.

“Are they ever gonna fucking run out of bullets?” Harry exasperated, jumping up to fire more shots and duck back down. “Shit, would you get down?” he shouted at Louis, who was still standing at full height without regard and silently waiting for similar opportunities to arise.

Harry scoffed and stood back up because _he_ certainly wasn’t about to be the coward in this relationship, but he instantly wished he hadn’t. More bottles shattered behind them in a new wave of ammunition, and Harry swore he could almost hear the rounds flying centimeters past his ears.

Louis shoved his superior down by his shoulder and held him still as he aimed at the instigators, successfully killing two more before crouching to reload. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he scolded to the heavily breathing leader.

“Oh, you mean like you?” Harry retorted, looking pleadingly to Zayn like he might defend his honour.

“Let Louis handle this,” Zayn said, betraying all of Harry’s trust in four infuriating words.

“Aw, fuck the both of you,” Harry growled, reloading and aiming his guns at the light bulbs in the fixtures above. “Hope you have good night vision!” he called to the enemies across the room.

Louis smirked at his master’s wit, and even Liam grinned from the other table as he pointed his glock at the lights on his side of the bar. All of the wolves successfully knocked out every source of light in the building in a matter of seconds, and this drastically played into their favour.

The hunters yelped in fear from the vulnerable exposure, and they only got a few short moments of yelling a retreat before the giant wolf of Nikita launched itself off the bar and flew straight toward them.

“ _Shit_ , that was fast!” Harry cursed, hopping over the counter with Zayn right behind to back up Nikita’s reckless wolf.

“It was not necessary to turn here,” Zayn agreed in a high-pitched screech, honing in on the movement he caught in his peripherals to see Liam and Niall running from their hiding spot to join the fight. “‘Bout time,” he sassed, clapping Liam on the back and handing him a knife for good measure.

“Niall’s my top priority, but humans are blind in the dark,” Liam shrugged, throwing the sideways tables across the room like they were made of plastic, and completely exposing the shaking hunters.

Louis could have had the hunters’ corpses piled up in roughly thirty seconds, but he’d wanted to fight. He’d wanted to drag it on as long as possible—to get as much aggression out as he could—and that’s the only reason why it hadn’t been over as soon as it started.

Niall and Liam were mostly just trying to subdue their opponents, but the other three were out for blood...Louis more than anyone. The Ashen was literally ripping his victims apart while Harry and Zayn were causing a very similar mess to theirs.

The fun stopped when Louis shifted back to his human and sunk his teeth into one of the last living hunters, subsequently slapping his own bloody and bitten hand over the wound. The Russian gurgled a tortured screamed as his cells destroyed themselves to be rebuilt, and he convulsed when Louis bit into the other side of his neck.

Harry knew instantly what was happening when he smelled his mate’s blood in the air. This had officially just turned into a catastrophe. “Fucking hell, _Nikita_!” he yelled, sliding to Louis on his knees to get level with the leash.

Harry pulled as hard as he could, but it only flipped the two over so that Louis was underneath his victim. _Strong grip,_ he commended, admiring the gleam from the Ashen’s deadly teeth that he could see.

“Louis!” the superior suddenly yelled, slapping himself out of his appraisal and acknowledging the serious predicament they were now in. “Louis, you can’t do this! Think about what you’re doing,” he urged, trying to disconnect the hunter’s neck from Louis’ canines, not caring if it tore his throat out or not.

Louis seemed to come back a bit when he got a good view of Harry’s ultra serious expression, and he guiltily let go of the hunter’s neck while Harry dragged him out from under his victim and into his lap instead. Louis stared with wide eyes at what he’d just done and began, and anxiety ensued.

“What happened? I don’t remember—I didn’t want to do that. I barely realized what was happening. My wolf had to turn something,” he whined, offhandedly noticing that their family had eliminated all remaining hunters, solely leaving this progressing one in their wake.

“What do we do?” Liam asked, kneeling to take a look at the hunter’s wounds. “Louis, can you like…undo it?”

“Undo it?!” Louis shouted incredulously, “I don’t even know how I did it.”

“You gave him your blood, obviously. He’ll be roughly the same strength as us, so we have to do something. Quickly,” Harry said warily as the human finally died, commencing the slow shift of inevitable rebirth.

“Wouldn’t he just automatically join our side?” Niall questioned, getting annoyed glares from everyone else.

Liam sighed and threw an arm around the blonde’s shoulders. “No, Niall. Especially not someone already from the Hunters Organization. Even the human half-bloods with no prior relations to or knowledge of lycanthrophy betrayed Ashen and gave them up to the Organization. We couldn’t ever risk that…on any human, but _especially_ not a hunter,” he informed while the Atsilas wracked their brains for the best solution.

“We just have to shoot him, then. With the silver bullets, no less,” Niall supplied, equally as unhelpful as the last contribution.

“ _No_ , Niall. Wrong. We can’t wield their weapons. How the fuck—their guns that are completely made out of silver, every single part containing silver, covered in damn silver, and only activated once direct skin contact is made? Absolutely not. And have you forgotten it wouldn’t do any good because he’s already dead? We could shoot him all we want, but he’ll just come back with a clean slate. That’s how it works,” Harry muttered needlessly, in his opinion at least.

“So we just wait for him to come alive?” Liam asked in a high-pitched tone, backing up with Niall a few paces like the hunter was a ticking time bomb.

“No,” Louis negated, grabbing as many knives as he could hold in two hands and standing over the blossoming wolf to put an end to him before he opened his new eyes. “We tear him apart. I’d like to see anyone come back from what I’m about to do to him.”

 

\---

 

A gruesome five minutes later, soundtracked by Niall’s nonstop puking, Harry and Zayn finally had to pull Louis off his work of art because there was absolutely no point in taking disconnected pieces and shredding them into more pieces.

“Louis! Hey, Louis, Louis,” Harry hushed, petting his hair and calming him down from his butchering rampage just enough to see a glimpse of reason. “It’s dead, baby. You did a really good job, but you have to come back now, we have to leave,” he said while he turned his head to address his brothers. “Whoever’s wearing layers, give something up, we’ve gotta get him clothed.”

Niall retched empty air from the overpowering stench of genuine carnage, but he still pulled his shirt off to throw in the trio’s direction, getting Liam’s sweatshirt as an immediate replacement. Zayn slipped out of his jeans and boxer briefs to hand them to Louis, and he put his pants back on afterward. As a last touch, Harry shrugged out of his coat and threw it around the Ashen’s shoulders, deciding they could forgo the shoes for now.

“Get me. To the forest,” Louis said through his clenched teeth, shamefully losing all his control over his wolf.

Harry could probably stop the animal in its tracks if he tried hard enough, but he also knew that would just make it worse for the Ashen in the long run, so he accepted the request. “Liam, take care of these,” he said, gesturing to the dismembered bodies littering the bar floor. “I don’t care what you have to do. Call Jareth and Dean. Figure something out, we don’t have long. Bring a bunch of clothes to the cave when you’re done. Full moon’s starting early this month—at least for this one,” he added, stealing a kiss to Louis’ tight-lined lips. “We’ll be waiting,” he finalized as he walked out with the trembling Ashen and an apologetic Zayn.

“Jesus fucking christ, why?” Liam groaned, pulling out his phone to call Jareth. The Alpha mumbled out a groggy "Hello?" on the other line, and Liam almost sobbed with relief at getting the instant answer. “Jareth! Oh, thank god. It’s Liam. Uh, some shit went down… What do I mean? Ah, well…you see…what _happened_ was—”

 

~~~

 

The three mates arrived to the cave with the least amount of issues they could have potentially received. Louis was being specifically difficult to deal with, but his two superiors understood him so much better now than they did back when this all began. Not only with time spent together, but they had Ashen blood too now, so they knew a fraction of what it was like.

“It’s okay, Louis. As soon as we’re there, I’ll let you turn, okay?” Harry soothed as he got closer to jogging than walking, the quietly screeching Louis shivering weakly in his arms.

Zayn had a strong grip on the leash for added measure, and though Louis technically appreciated it, he couldn’t stop the looks of hatred he would routinely shoot at both of them when they would hush his perfectly acceptable cries of frustration.

Louis resorted to shutting his eyes and diverting his mind as he was carried to his destination. His mind couldn’t fixate on much else than what had just happened, but he still tried his hardest to think about something else.

In the efforts to take control of his thoughts, it had luckily passed enough time that he was put down in the cave before he even realized they’d entered it. He purred in joy and was about to turn when Harry slapped his chest to get his attention.

“You are not tearing any more clothes. Liam and Niall will be here eventually, but on the off chance that they don’t make it, we can’t afford to lose clothing. Take it off,” he ordered, helping the Ashen out with the removal of the garments. Harry and Zayn were both insanely jealous that Louis got to turn at all, but they were glad it was at least in the privacy of their own cave this time.

Louis leapt into his wolf just as he’d done in the bar, and his superiors were still astounded by his incredible ability to become one in the flash of a moment. They let Louis walk around while they each kept a watchful eye on the forest, ensuring they were not being visited by anyone or anything unwanted.

They couldn’t really let Louis do a full run because they wouldn’t be able to catch up, but Louis understood. In fact, he was kind of in agreement. Not because he thought he wouldn’t be able to handle things on his own, but because he loved his masters dearly and didn’t want to part from them.

The Ashen padded back into the cave so he could take a nap, and Harry wholeheartedly endorsed the concept, running in after him and curling up against his fur. Zayn took slow steps back inside and sat down on a rock, crossing his arms and legs while he gazed fondly at his contrasting-species lovers. He knew this meant he was to take the first watch, so he yawned and pulled out his phone, turning to human app games to pass the time.

Candy-Crush had never been so entertaining.

 

\---

 

“Is he asleep?” Niall asked softly as he set all of the requested items on the rock that Zayn was slouching on.

“Yeah,” Zayn raspily replied, just now realizing that it was morning. “Jesus, what happened?” he asked, turning his attention to Liam for a calm explanation.

“Well, we waited for Jareth and Dean, along with their whole team to get there...answered a bunch of their questions, helped out in any way we could. Niall was really upset so I had to take him home. Then I had to knot him. Then I had to shower with him. Then I had to fee—”

“Okay, I get it,” Zayn muttered, waving his hand in a manner that suggested details of Niall were not the point. “But what did Jareth do?”

“Honestly?” Liam began in confusion, “I don’t know. And what’s weirder is he told me not to ask him. He said…oh, what did he say…”

“He said the less everyone knows, the better. He doesn’t want more people aware of the process than necessary because in the case of an interrogation, only a few would have the correct information? It’s basically to save us from ques—”

“You two are the biggest run-on speakers I’ve ever met,” Zayn chuckled, stretching his back and holding his hand out for a blanket his brothers had brought. “I get the point…makes sense,” he said with full approval.

“So are we ready for the moon?” Harry asked against Nikita’s furry stomach that he was nuzzled into.

“How long have you been awake?” Zayn asked the leader, removing the blanket from his shoulders and throwing it over Harry’s body.

“Ah, nah. No thanks. Niki is plenty warm enough,” he said, kicking the blanket back off and flipping over to face his brothers. Harry smiled lovingly and wiped at his tired eyes, positioning Nikita’s arm further up over his. “Weird that he hasn’t shifted back yet,” he noted, massaging the wolf’s unfairly soft paw pad.

“Wake him up,” Liam suggested, dumping all the food they collected onto the rock floor and setting about making sandwiches.

“I’ve been awake for three hours, by the way,” Harry said to Zayn, because he may have a frequently distracted mind, but never a forgetful one. “Louis?” he whispered to his lover when Zayn only rolled his eyes at the late answer. The wolf had no reaction, so Harry rolled further back and knocked his shoulder into Louis’ chest repeatedly. “Louis!”

“Doesn’t he only respond to Nikita when he’s like this?” Niall said curiously, almost getting scolded until everyone realized he was right.

Harry looked back at the wolf to wake it using its original title, but he found that his mate’s eyes were already open and alert from hearing his given name. “Oh,” Harry hummed, propping himself up on his elbows to get the optimum angle of communication. “Nikita?”

The wolf’s tail wagged and he blinked his big blue eyes, clearly responding to the name.

“Can you come back?” Harry gently asked, sitting up all the way to be taller as he held onto the leash just enough to make it appear.

Nikita didn’t seem impressed, considering he huffed and closed his eyes in boredom, but Harry knew what to do. Now that they were both awake…

“Louis!” he barked, grinning victoriously when a much more submissive demeanor surfaced in the wolf’s body language. “There’s my little Louis,” he cooed, giving his lover orgasmic ear scratches. “Come back to me, Louis. I miss you.”

That was all Louis needed to hear to push Nikita out of the way, and he shifted back in record time, climbing into Harry’s lap and hiding himself in his superior’s neck to scent him. “I feel like shit,” he pitifully croaked, seeking the comfort that only his mates could give him.

Zayn crawled over and closed the other side of the hug, kissing Louis’ neck and massaging his thighs. Louis moaned in bliss and twisted around so he was more evenly distributed between them, chasing his favourite identically doubled affection.

Harry looked around the cave and accepted the three sandwiches that Liam held out when he was ready, turning back and happily feeding his perfect mates. Everyone ate in silence until Louis suddenly threw his half-eaten sandwich high up in the air and straddled Harry’s hips, rutting his own uncontrollably.

Harry held back the laughter of amusement that he could have easily let slip, and gave the unfinished sandwiches back to Liam while Niall reached his arm to scoop the abused one off the floor.

Turning his attention back to the horny little Louis, Harry and Zayn got to work on teasing him and opening him up for their knots that all three of them had so dearly missed.

Liam and Niall shrugged and did the same thing, and Zayn made eye contact with his Harry to finally answer the leader’s question about being ready for the full moon. “Just about.”

Harry furrowed his eyebrows until he opened a mental link, becoming all smirk when he understood. He roughly ran his hands all over both of his mates’ flawless skin and tickled his submissive’s back with a breathy chuckle. The leader winked at his brother over their demanding Ashen when the sensation on his back caused an overload of trembles from his tiny frame. “Yeah, almost.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh-oh. Contact has been made, what's gonna happen wahhh.


	14. Come Alone

“You the police?” the obviously Southern bartender asked the group of three expensively dressed men who had waltzed in and offered their services.

“We are special investigator,” Yaroslav replied, pulling out the fake badge he always carries when in America.

“My, my...well you’re here ‘bout the fight, right?” the bartender asked, wiping his hands with a rag and flopping it down somewhere behind the bar.

“Yes. What do you know?”

“Well, all’s _I_ know is there were a two or so groups of people playin’ pool over there—” he said with a point of his finger to the opposite side of the room, “—and them’s got into some kinda argument and all hell broke loose. I ran out when it got wild, glad I did, 'cuz now there’s bullets everywhere. Dang hooligans ruined my bar!” he cried, gesturing to the broken bottles and cracked mirrors.

“Do you hev security camera?” Yaro inquired, looking around in the top corners of the room.

“Nah, I ain’t got none of them unfortunately...didn’t got the money to keep them runnin’, so there wudn’t no point. Guess I shoulda forked it over anywho, then I might have some proof,” the man sighed, taking back his rag and resuming his hopeless wiping of spilled alcohol.

“You describe them?”

“Can I describe ‘em? Well…most of ‘em talked like you. Russian, ain’t ya? Ya’lls trackin’ the mob?” he asked with a gasp.

Yaro didn’t want to demonize his brave and loyal hunters, but it was the best way to appeal to this American, so he swallowed his pride and threw them under the bus. “Yes, we come here to track Russian criminal. What else did you see? Who else was wees them?”

“Well, then there were these five or six young, good-lookin’ lads. Drank me outta house and home, they did. Lost a whole damn bottle to the lot of ‘em. Surprised how well they took it, if you ask me. Kids start young these days…not like we didn’t, though…in _my_ day—”

“Zat will be all, thank you,” Yaro interrupted, placing a phony business card on the bar and sliding it forward while the man squinted at it through his dirty glasses. “If you think of something else, please call.”

“Will do, sirs. Hope ya’ll catch ‘em. Bring ‘em here when ya do, I oughta give ‘em a good clubbin’ for wrecking the place so bad. I’m only one old man, I can’t handle things like this no more.”

“Nice day,” Yaro said as a goodbye, stepping over glass to walk into the sunny outdoors, his left and right-wing men appearing at his sides to wait for the next instruction.

“They’re all dead,” Yaro growled, positive that the wolves cleaned everything up before anyone found out. “We came too late.”

“We didn’t know. Vse normal’no,” Maxim responded, placing a bold hand on his boss’ shoulder.

“We will kill him. He is the Ashen I failed to eliminate, I will fix it. But first…Johannah and Norman. Let us pay zem a visit,” he chuckled darkly, slapping his sunglasses on and walking to the car with a renewed bounce in his step.

 

~~~

 

The full moon cycle had passed in the blink of an eye. The blink may have been filled with kissing, biting, and knotting, but it had still passed by in a flash. Now that Louis was a little bit more in his right mind, thoughts of the bar-fight leaked into the forefront.

The Ashen didn’t have any serious guilt, but he had buckets of anxiety in its place. They surely hadn’t killed every Russian hunter that had come looking for them, because those ones seemed more of the subordinate and mercenary type. Which meant the real baddies were still out there somewhere, and now they’d inevitably discovered Louis’ general location, and his parents were probably in danger because of it.

Louis had no idea how the hunters found him in general, but now he might as well have gone around town with a huge neon sign on his chest and put out ads in the papers. If the Organization only had a mere inkling of his whereabouts before, now it was undeniable truth. And if they could find this middle-of-nowhere town in Washington state, they could find his parents just as easily. He’s sure of it. They’re called ‘hunters’ and not just ‘killers’ for a reason.

“Harry?” Louis said quietly, clearing his throat and trying again as he shook his mate’s body awake. “Harry!”

“Wha—” Harry gasped in concern, instantly sitting up like he’d just shout out of a nightmare.

“No, no, it’s just me. I’m okay, I promise,” Louis comforted, letting his hands roam the wolf’s chest to calm him.

Harry sighed in relief and layed back down, taking Louis with him and balancing the Ashen on top of him. “What is it, Lou?” he asked with a deeper voice than normal.

“I just have a bad feeling…let me get my phone,” the Ashen said, squirming to get off Harry, who immediately released his arms and sat up.

Harry pulled his ankles in to sit with his legs crossed, and regarded Louis with the highest degree of empathy. “Louis, either Niall or Liam has it. Maybe Zayn. You shifted out of nowhere when you hopped that bar…someone picked it up, but I don’t know who ended up with it,” he said gently, trying to avoid riling him up so early in the morning.

“Guys!” Louis barked to the sleeping wolves, impatiently watching them stir and stretch out of their slumber.

“Baby?” Zayn called with his eyes still closed, reaching his arms out pointlessly because Louis was on the other side of Harry.

“Get up,” Harry muttered, lifting Zayn into a sitting position by the back of his neck.

“Wha—what’s going on?” Zayn asked once he was fully alert.

“Where’s my phone?” Louis asked the groggy wolves, looking to each one of them individually and making it clear that _someone_ needed to answer.

“It’s in my bag,” Niall said quickly, crawling over to toss the whole thing to Louis to poke through to his heart’s content.

Louis caught the bag with one hand and dumped the contents out onto the floor, finding his phone at the top of the pile and turning it on with sweaty fingers. Everyone dressed themselves as they waited, and Louis needed some extra encouragement, but his masters successfully got him in clothes too.

Louis whined when his phone showed he had no missed calls or notifications of any sort, but he checked his voicemails just in case…nothing. He sloppily typed his Mother’s number into the dialpad, and called his Father right after when she didn’t answer. Still nothing.

Nothing.

“This isn’t right,” he said lowly, dread taking over every little synapse he had in his brain.

“Your parents?” Harry guessed, taking the phone from Louis and looking it over for no real reason, like it may have an answer on the home screen. Which was a picture of Zayn and Harry peacefully sleeping together in case you were wondering.

“You don’t think…” Louis began, struggling to finish the concept in his mind.

“I doubt it, Lou. Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Zayn said logically, crab-walking over to Louis’ motionless form and nuzzling his face into his neck to scent him.

“What day is it? Is there anywhere else they could be?” Harry asked hopefully.

Louis reached over and pulled the top of his screen down to find it was a Sunday, and now this whole ordeal was even worse. They didn’t even _have_ work on Sundays. “Unless they both got called into some simultaneous meetings from their jobs, they’re not there. They don’t work today. Sunday has always been family day,” he said sadly, fighting to keep the chaotic panic at bay.

“Okay, Lou. Come here, baby. Let me hold you for a minute,” Harry said softly, lifting Louis from Zayn and placing him in his own lap. “What would you like to do? We have a few options. Do you want to wait a while until they would normally get off? Because maybe they got called in? We could check then. Wait here, go home, go to their house, what do you want to do?”

Louis thought it over and concluded that going to his parents’ house and finding it empty would be a stupid thing to do now in case they did get called in. It would only ensue unnecessary stress. He gave up the fight and shrugged against Harry’s chest, inhaling a shaky breath and letting it back out the same way. “I…I guess that’s all we can do, is go home for a bit. Can we go back now so I can keep this charged?” he pleaded, noticing his phone was on 13% battery.

“Of course, love. Are you two coming?” Harry asked Niall and Liam who had been silently and sympathetically listening to the problem.

“Definitely,” Niall answered, scooting up to plant a kiss on Louis’ cheek.

“Why don’t you three just go home now? Niall and I will pack up here, and we’ll be there in about forty-five minutes, okay?” Liam suggested, giving them a shoo to get out and leave the rest to them.

“Alright. Thanks Li, just…just hurry up, okay? We’ll be waiting,” Harry said as he stood up with Louis in his arms as always.

“You’re the best, Li,” Zayn seconded, taking Louis’ hand as the trio disappeared through the cave’s entrance.

“Should we expect the worst?” Niall asked nervously when their brothers were across the river and out of earshot.

Liam pursed his lips and began rolling up the sleeping bags, handing things to Niall to stuff in all the bags they’d brought. “I’m not sure that we can say yet...but I don’t think we should expect the best.”

 

\---

 

“What are you thinking, baby?” Zayn asked the stressing Ashen as Harry rubbed his tensed back.

They had showered and cleaned their submissive when they’d returned home, and now were all sitting on the bed together, waiting for Liam and Niall to return and trying to get Louis out of the shell he’d locked himself in.

Almost as if on cue, the two brothers waltzed into the room and set on returning things where they belonged. They didn’t feel they had the right to communicate with Louis at the moment, so they ignored the trio and focused on doing some good for everyone.

Louis’ eyes had shifted to Niall and Liam once when they arrived, but now they were back on his hands, watching himself pick at his cuticles and clean his nails. “I don’t know,” he answered after a good while of silence; but as soon as he opened his mouth, the entirety of what he’d wanted to say poured out. “That the hunters have my parents and are doing unspeakably terrible fucking things to them right now,” he sobbed as he dove into the beginning stages of hyperventilation.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Harry cooed, placing his hands on either side of the Ashen’s face and forcing him to look at him. “We’re gonna figure this out, okay? No matter what the situation is, we will never let anything happen to you.”

Louis burst into ill-timed cackling, but he couldn’t help it. The insinuation was preposterous, and not at all what he wanted _or_ needed to hear right now. “You can’t promise that!” he shouted when his laughing fit had subsided, slapping Harry’s hands away from his face and standing on his feet to turn and shout at his naive mates. “I am stronger than either of you!” he roared offensively, sending a wince to both of their bodies. “I could _destroy_ you. You may not see it, because of _this—_ ” he emphasized with a harsh tug on his own leash to make it appear and pull on Harry’s wrist, “—because you own me. But if I didn’t love you two more than anything, I could and probably would have killed you in a second! Several times over now—even if you were simultaneously hitting me with everything you had, it wouldn’t be enough! You are my superiors, and you put me in my place when I need it, and I obey you. You can control me, because it’s what I want. Because I let you. But I am still the strongest. More powerful than you ever will be. I’m physically superior to every wolf in this damn hotel, and I haven’t ever used my full potential. I can feel it brewing deep within myself, but I don’t ever let it out. Nobody here knows what I can do, not even me,” he finished in a huff, crossing his arms over his body and squeezing his eyes shut in disappointment at the outburst he’d just fell victim to.

Silence reigned supreme for several long moments. Niall and Liam’s mouths were dropped open in shock, and Zayn and Harry were a tad emotional about it—topped off with slight agitation.

“We know this, Louis. Why are you saying this?” Zayn asked, breaking the silence and consequently breaking Louis’ angry resolve.

“Just because you’re stronger, doesn’t mean I’m weak,” Harry said tightly, standing to tower over Louis and grab ahold of his collar. “You did make me an Ashen, you know.”

“ _Part_ Ashen,” Louis corrected in annoyance, standing still even though his instincts were telling him to run away from the grip on his submissive collar. His independent instincts _always_ told him to run away, but he rarely ever did. “I turned you on the verge of death because of a horrific mistake that _I_ made. Who knows, maybe I would have eventually done it no matter what, but in this scenario, it was my awful and uncontrollable power that gave you my heritage. It was that, or death. I almost killed you!”

“And me?” Zayn piped from the side, standing to add his dominance to the picture. “I don’t remember a near-death experience happening to me.”

Louis sighed and rubbed at his temples. “I turned you because I couldn’t leave you out. Because you needed to be stronger to match Harry. So you could protect yourself.”

“What exactly are you getting at with all of this?” Harry asked, and Louis snapped his head up to stare at them incredulously.

“I’m saying don’t ever say you’ll ‘never let anything happen to me.' I’m fine! You don’t need to protect me, I need to protect _you_. You can’t compete with me at all, don’t fucking presume you can. The only thing you protect me from is myself, to keep me from going crazy—but against outside enemies, or any other adversaries, I can take care of myself just fine. We’re up against the hunters that took down my clan. _MY_ CLAN! And you think anyone from Atsila would be a match for these hunters? They are the _original_ hunters, for fucks sake. Protecting me from them would only get you needlessly killed. You two get on this power trip because I’m at your mercy, but don’t fucking disrespect or invalidate my power, and what I can do with it!”

Harry sighed and reached out for the Ashen to try and knock some sense into him. “Louis, you’re taking this way too far. I’m not say—”

“I’m not done,” Louis interrupted, backing up further so his dominant couldn’t make contact with his skin, and he wouldn’t be persuaded to drop this so easily. “I feel bad enough bringing this down on everyone’s heads. I don’t expect or want anyone to fight for me, even you two, who are a step above everyone else. It’s too fucking dangerous. I don’t even want you there. Do you understand how fucking upsetting it is that I’m putting the wolves I love more than anything else in the world in peril because of my problems? I don’t want anyone suffering from my battles. It’s no one’s fight but mine. I might have just killed my parents by association, and from what I’ve seen, Atsilas are the same as humans to the Organization in comparison to me. I can’t lead them here. I won’t,” he snarled, trying to make an exit and run off by himself, but getting yanked back into his master’s arms. By the damn binding connection they shared. Could have seen that one coming…

“Louis!” Harry cried, squeezing him harder than any human would be able to handle. “I know you didn’t ask anyone to fight, but you gotta ask yourself why then we are still willing to. It’s because you’re _loved_ , you dingus. You’re one of us, Ashen or not, and we’ll always walk into battle with you because your fight is our fight too. We don’t have to involve the rest of Atsila, but just you _try_ stopping us, I fucking dare you.”

“It’s bullshit, Lou,” Zayn added, peppering the wolf’s face with kisses. “We couldn’t ever let you take care of this on your own. We’re in this together, even if you hate it. Even if you refuse it the whole fucking way, we’ll still be there. We are not going anywhere. We know you are fine on your own, and we promise we won’t get in the way. You won’t have to protect us the whole time, we can fend for ourselves too—and we’re probably the only other ones here who can. We won’t protect you, we’ll cover you. We’ll have your back,” he declared, smiling when Louis’ eyes brightened significantly.

“You honestly think that hunters, no matter how good and experienced they are, could ever take the three of us down?” Harry challenged, pulling back to finally look into his mate’s eyes.

“Harry, they killed Ash—”

“The Ashen clan, I know. Your invincible clan was destroyed by these assholes, but don’t forget about the half-breeds that helped them. Plus, you’re stronger than any Ashen that’s ever lived,” Harry professed, earning a confused and skeptical look from the last living member. “ _Also_ , the Ashen were completely unguarded that night, and caught by surprise. The Organization and hybrid army really weren’t that impressive.”

“Explain everything you just said.”

Zayn took that break to guide them all back onto the bed, and the simple act of sitting down made their conversation considerably quieter.  

“Ashen’s downfall was their over-confidence and their greed. They did bad things, so bad things happened to them. They were mostly borderline evil, and they were so complacent because they didn’t think anyone could ever challenge them and win. They constantly had their guard down, and they ended up in a shitstorm because of it. But you, you’re different—your parents suppressed their innate Ashen urges, and they created an alternative way of life for themselves. One that we’ve been drilling into you since the start, and you have quite the better handle on it already. You’ve got both of your parents’ strength in you, and that makes you three times as strong as they were. The Organization can’t ever take you down, Nikita. You’re the one thing they’ll never get.”

“How do you know so much about—”

“We have your blood, you dingus. We feel shit,” Zayn cut in, snickering at Louis’ little "ah."

Louis threw his arms around both of his masters and whined into their shoulders. “I love you. Both of you. So fucking much. I can’t bear the thought of losing you…or of literally anything negative happening to you, that’s all.”

“I love you, Louis—” Zayn began, getting predictably interrupted by Harry who finished his sentence.

“— With everything I am.”

“Thank you,” Louis whispered, tipping them all over so they were lying on the bed.

Niall and Liam stood and retreated to their room because the conflict had seemingly passed, throwing the trio smiles as they crossed the room.

“I would have never been complete if I hadn’t found you before I was born.”

Harry laughed and shook his head, recalling their first meeting with fond remembrance. “Technically I found you. And I don’t know about that, Lou. I don’t think you appreciated my scenting very much.”

“I probably got hard about it later, don’t worry,” Louis giggled, feeling like that first encounter was an entire lifetime ago. Well, it was.

“I loved the cake pop,” Zayn said randomly, taking Louis back to the second shop incident.

“Okay, why were you so weird?” Louis asked, turning his head to stare at Zayn’s profile, having always wanted to ask this question.

“Oh…well Harry wouldn’t stop flapping his arms outside like a duck, and you were so close to turning that I had to put a lot of focus into controlling myself in your presence. Your scent was crazy strong. I fell for your eyes, though,” he mused, seeking out contact with his lover’s oceanic irises.

“Yeah, your eyes are what earned him a dirt-covered cake pop,” Harry laughed, confusing Louis further.

“Wait, what?”

“Nevermind that,” Zayn deflected, rolling on top of Louis to distract him. “Right now, I want you to present to me,” he suggestively murmured into the wolf’s ear.

“Present?” Louis squeaked, arching his back and letting his shirt come over his head. “God, you’re bold right now. I’m waiting here only until five to see if my—”

“We know, Lou. But we’re attuned to all of your inner desires. We can feel what you want—” Harry interrupted, petting the Ashen’s hair.

“— And we know what you need,” Zayn added.

“— And do you know what your hormones are screaming right now?” Harry finished, raking his eyes up and down Louis’ body.

“What?” Louis whispered, disappointed in himself that he was currently aroused when his parents might be kidnapped, or worse.

“You want us to take away your stress. Even if just for a while, even if it comes back harder, you’d rather have a break from it. And only we can make that happen,” Harry said as he shuffled down the mattress to reach Louis’ pants and slip them off.

“Are we wrong?” Zayn challenged, already knowing that they weren’t.

“No,” Louis said instantly, moving his legs to make it easier for Harry to remove his clothes. “You’re not wrong…but—”

“Us wolves mate for many reasons, Louis,” Harry murmured against Louis’ tummy, hooking his fingers into Louis’ underwear to slide them off too. “Don’t ever think it’s shallow that you wish to be mated during hard and stressful times. We can help. A knot is kind of the only thing that ever truly can.”

“Just take our knots, babe. Let us alleviate your worries. And then we’ll face whatever life brings head-on at the peaks of our strength,” Zayn contributed, ripping his own clothes off and licking into Louis’ hesitant mouth.

“Let us put you away for a bit until you’re ready to come back out,” Harry said while he ran his hands up Louis’ torso to pinch both of his nipples and roll them between his fingers.

Louis gasped and arched his back again, this time catching a glimpse of the upside-down clock on the side table. Well, maybe he’s the one that’s upside-down, but either way, he determined there was time because it was only two-thirty p.m..

“We’ve got time,” Zayn said surely, bringing Louis’ head back to kiss him.

“You make a pretty convincing case,” Louis mumbled in-between kisses while Harry was still taking his time on the Ashen’s lower half, fondling his balls and just about anything he could get to.

“It’s not for us, Lou,” Harry assured, taking a break and leaning over to be in view when Zayn relocated his kisses to Louis’ neck. “You are our mate. For life. We’re all each other’s, but you will always come first. Your needs are the most important thing we could ever satisfy, and we always will.”

“Just knot me,” Louis moaned, having gotten the point a long time ago. The dominants really didn’t have to try so hard to get him to agree, and he couldn’t wait any longer.

“Zayn, move,” Harry ordered, physically rolling him off to the side and dropping down on the other side. “Spread your legs, baby,” he whispered into Louis’ chest.

Louis obeyed the command like a button had been pushed, and his superiors took a hold of one each and scooted in close.

“We’re gonna take care of you,” Zayn cooed, understanding Harry’s intentions and stroking his cock in preparation as the leader reached back for the lube. “Just let yourself be dominated, and you’ll see how much it can help. Give us your body.”

Louis didn’t need any more encouragement and he gasped when he realized this was the position they would use. With Louis on his back and both wolves fucking him from the sides. His hole had never stretched in that direction, it had always been the other way, so this was sure to hurt a lot. He couldn’t wait. “Take it.”

Harry laughed and passed the lube to Zayn when he was done, pushing his cock in first to open the Ashen up before Zayn joined the mating. “Good boy,” he praised, swallowing Louis’ screeches with his hand. “We haven’t even started yet,” he warned, speeding up his hips to get him used to it. “Just relax.”

Zayn was now ready and he made his advance, pushing Louis’ leg up so it was out of the way. “Hope you’re ready, Lou,” he said, coordinating with Harry to time their entrance correctly.

Louis screamed as loud as he damn well pleased because the pain was well beyond what he was accustomed to. He was sure his mates wouldn’t be able to actually fit, but of course they shoved their way in with no trouble at all. They both held Louis’ thighs up against his chest and gave him a small period of adjustment before thrusting their hips.

“Shit,” the Ashen hissed, trying to hold his noises in as much as possible because if he didn’t, Liam and Niall wouldn’t be the only ones forced to hear it. Try the whole building.

“You’re doing so good, Niki,” Harry praised, attacking the wolf’s upper arm with his teeth simply because it was in range.

“Niki?” Louis asked incredulously, choking and shutting up when his leash was yanked on, but still internally grumbling about it. Just how many names is he supposed to fucking have?

“You respond to whatever we call you, slut,” Zayn reprimanded, increasing the speed of his hips as the pleasure from their mating got unfairly maddening. “ _Fuck_ , you feel so fucking good, I can’t—”

“No, don’t,” Harry warned, forcibly stopping Zayn’s hips.

“But it’s so good,” Zayn moaned, frantically climbing back off the ledge of his release.

“Calm yourself, let yourself feel it. Stay still—bask in it,” Harry ordered, doing the same thing and staying inside Louis without moving.

“WHAT!” Louis shouted, getting identical tugs on his leash that actually just cancelled each other out because his masters pulled on it in opposite directions. “You can’t do this to me,” he whined, bearing down to get more cock in him.

“Stop it,” Harry snapped with a sharp smack to Louis’ inner thigh. The Ashen whimpered but remained motionless, propping himself up on his elbows and sweating with the frustration of holding himself back.

“Okay,” Zayn panted confidently, starting back up with slow and shallow thrusts that Harry matched perfectly.

Louis’ eyes rolled back in his head and he fell down onto his back, pressing his inner wrists right above his eyebrows and groaning incredibly low in his throat.

“You’re alright, Louis. Few more minutes and we’ll give you what you want,” Harry promised, silently communicating to Zayn to speed things up for the finale.

Zayn had to control himself once again, but he managed to keep the same pace without going overboard for a full five minutes before he really couldn’t deny the need to knot any longer. Louis had been a sobbing mess the whole time, and now that he was so close to his gratification, he just needed a tiny push to fall over the edge.

“Harry,” the Ashen whined in a tone that would probably make anyone else question what he wanted, but Harry knew. Harry always knew.

“I know, baby,” he said, twisting the leash to extend from the back of the collar and wrapping it around Louis’ neck once to make sure it didn’t spin free. He pulled with considerable strength to ensure that the Ashen couldn’t breathe if he tried, and Zayn added a hand to overwhelm the situation even more.

Harry’s other hand was busy landing smacks to Louis’ clenched upper thighs, but that wasn’t particular; everything in Louis was clenched, from his curled toes to his grinding jaw. The impending orgasm the Ashen could detect was already out of this world, and he probably wouldn’t even remember it, but it called for some serious mental and physical bracing.

“Harry, are you—” Zayn began through his panting.

“Yeah, I am,” Harry confirmed, digging his nails into the back Louis’ knee and dragging them down, cutting the flesh as he did so.

Louis squealed and pawed at his masters’ chests in order to get what he craved. The wolves were going to give it to him anyway, but his frazzled little mind couldn’t comprehend anything past his instinctual need to come. He was already so far gone, if only they would just push him the rest of the way down.

He finally got his wish when Harry growled and bit into his neck as he came, a generous hand stroking Louis to completion as well to really make him plummet. Zayn’s teeth dug into the flesh Louis’ shoulder as he got his knot to its fullest, and he played with the Ashen’s sack as the little wolf subserviently came all over Harry’s knuckles.

It took a while for Harry to stop spilling his seed, but when he finally did, he let go of Louis’ neck and rested his head on his chest, sharing a peaceful smirk with his fellow dominant mate. “I think it worked,” he noted.

Zayn panted until his breath came back and he nodded his head, wiping the sweat from under his eyes and crashing down beside his submissive. “Yeah, he’s out like a light-by-alarm-clock.”

Harry snorted and stretched himself out, careful not to jostle the other two as he laid all the way down. “Idiot.”

“Do we just wait? When do we go? And what do you think are we gonna find?” he asked quietly in case Louis was in a headspace that still perceived auditory stimulation.

“Couldn’t tell you,” Harry mused sadly, brushing Louis’ hair off his forehead and taking a hold of Zayn’s hand, interlocking their fingers over the Ashen’s chest and caressing it with his thumb. “Whatever it is, be ready for it.”

“I just hope _he_ is,” Zayn redirected at their passed out mate.

“We’ll solve this, Z. Whatever happens, we’re going to prevail,” Harry declared passionately, closing his eyes and taking some deep breaths to reset himself.

“I know.”

Zayn waited until both his mates were asleep before carefully stretching his arm to the side table where Louis’ phone was and sliding it off the edge into his palm. He’d never be able to tell you what was pushing him to do this, but he _needed_ to log into his google on Louis’ phone. The impulse to do it was screaming at him, and as weird as it was, he figured he shouldn’t ignore it. Brushing instincts aside was always a recipe for disappointment…or disaster.

He severely cramped his forearm from the awkward angle he was holding the phone at, but he successfully logged into his google account, quickly backing out and erasing the open tab as he turned the screen off and set it back down as quietly as he could.

 _Whatever the fuck that means_ , he thought quizzically, returning to the cuddle session and settling in for a nap. Weirder things have happened.

 

\---

 

“Would you hurry the fuck up, please?” Louis snapped, hastily tying his shoes while simultaneously trying to flip over the blankets on the bed to find his phone. Hard to do all at once. They’d slept overtime, and it was now seven in the evening, needless to say neither Johannah nor Norman had called him, but he wasn’t giving up. Not yet.

“Sorry, babes,” Zayn said, tossing Harry his socks, but realizing they had one of each other’s so they had to switch.

“Yeah, it’s our bad. We slept in...hard not to in a hole like that,” Harry muttered in appreciation. He knew that the trip to the house would be stressful, and he wasn’t optimistic enough to automatically assume Louis’ parents would be sitting in the kitchen like nothing was wrong, but he still felt the need to keep the mood light. It could come crashing down later.

“Whose car are we taking? And where do you guys park?” Louis asked, not having a lot of experience in their cars since they usually always ran everywhere they wanted to go.

“Uh, I was gonna say Zayn’s,” Harry shrugged, getting the last of his things in order and unlocking the safe to get his guns. Just in case…

“Mine? Why mine? Shouldn’t we take Liam’s?” Zayn retorted, thankfully catching his guns that Harry flung across the room.

“I don’t give a shit what car it is,” Louis barked desperately, standing in the open doorway and fidgeting like he had to pee. “Can we _go_?”

“Mine it is,” Zayn relented, handing Louis his glocks and ushering him down the hall to the elevator.

“You call us if you need anything,” Liam said quietly, both brothers nailing Harry with a serious and dedicated look.

Harry gave a tiny smile and nodded his head, calling a hasty goodbye and jogging to catch up with his mates. _How ‘bout a time machine?_

 

\---

 

The car ride was just what you’d expect, with Louis growling at every single red light they encountered, but they’d made it to his home and now stood on the porch together, anxiously awaiting some kind of confirmation the house was inhabited.

“Nobody’s answering,” Louis whined after the fifth doorbell ring.

Harry took ahold of Louis’ wrist before he could ring it again uselessly, and backed his mates up a few paces. He then walked to the front door, and was about to do it anyway, but he found himself turning to seek out Louis’ face and asking, “May I?”

Louis had no idea what he meant, but he nodded all the same.

Apparently what he meant was "May I kick your parents’ door in?", because with one lift of his knee, he struck his foot forward and smashed the lock to pieces with the force of his kick, flinging the door open so hard that the handle no doubt knocked a hole in the wall where it collided.

“Jesus, Harry,” Louis scolded in displeasure, walking in past him and shouting for his parents.

Zayn and Harry showed a sympathetic look with each other over Louis’ misplaced hope, and then they followed in after him to assist in any way that Louis would want them to. Louis almost ran them over when he flew back through the hallway, and the dominants took to searching the other rooms for the missing humans.

“MOM!” Louis screamed, getting increasingly frantic the more he realized that calling for her was indeed pointless. They weren’t here, and anyone could discern that, but he couldn’t accept it yet.

“Baby,” Zayn cooed, coming up behind him and taking him in his arms. He let Louis sag his weight backward, and Harry helped carry the Ashen to the kitchen table where they sat him in a chair and knelt before him.

“They’re gone,” Louis whimpered, watching his tears make dark spots on his jeans and clenching his fists in his lap. “They’re really gone.”

“We’ll get them back somehow,” Harry said supportively, reaching a thumb to wipe away the current tear, only to have it repainted with a new one. He set his chin down on Louis’ knees and rubbed at his upper thigh, not having anything to give in that moment but physical comfort.

“How?” Louis asked brokenly, leaning his head back to make sure his parents weren’t outside on the patio, or something else improbable like that.

“I don’t know. If the Organization got to them, they’re using them to get to you. It wouldn’t make any sense to lose that bait,” Zayn reasoned, taking the brunt of the difficult statement.

“You can say it, Zayn. Kill them. It wouldn’t make sense to kill them,” Louis bit harshly, hugging his midsection and resting his head on Harry’s forearm.

“It’s all the same,” Harry pressed, using his free hand to lightly scratch at Louis’ head, “They want you, Louis. You’re the Ashen.”

“Aren’t you forgetting that my parents are wanted by the Organization too? It’s not just me because I’m alive—they’re at fault because they’re the only _reason_ I’m alive in the first place. They’ve got their own price on their heads, it’s not like they’d be let free after I showed up, the Organization just wants all of us in the same place at the same time,” Louis sighed, pushing Harry away from his lap and turning to rest against the flat surface of the table instead.

“Do you want some tea, Louis?” Zayn asked sweetly, already on his way to the kettle.

“Don’t touch that,” Louis tried to say, but the wolf wasn’t paying attention.

“Ahh, shit!” Zayn cursed, dropping the kettle like it had burned him because, well…

“It’s silver, you dinglebat,” Louis chuckled, standing to push Zayn out of the way and do it himself.

“Dinglebat. Okay, Niall,” Harry laughed, opening the fridge to sift through its contents.

“You know, for being the parents of a lycan, they certainly didn’t spend any time making this place wolf-compatible,” Zayn muttered, running his singed palm under cold sink water. “Why couldn’t we have inherited your immunity from you?”

“Dunno,” Louis said with a shrug, stealing the fall of water from Zayn’s hand to fill the kettle. “It’s not like you get all of my abilities, I think you just got my stamina. I was born with this, _and_ I grew up alone, so I’m not really sure how everything works with anyone else,” he guessed, flicking the burner on and dropping the kettle with a loud clash.

“You weren’t alone, though,” Harry corrected with his mouth full, leaning back from the fridge with his face in a rotisserie chicken.

“Help yourself,” Louis muttered with a roll of his eyes, jumping up onto the counter and swinging his legs back and forth mindlessly; noisily knocking his heels against the cupboards every time, but nobody told him to cut it out.

Harry decided to be done with the chicken and closed the fridge, walking to the towels hanging from the oven handle and wiping his hands clean. He then came to stand in-between the Ashen’s legs, and he ran his hands up the beauty’s legs to grab onto his hips. Louis was unresponsive to the touch, so he shuffled in closer and wrapped his arms around the wolf’s back instead, dropping his head on Louis’ shoulder and whispering, “I’m sorry.”

Louis blinked more tears away and shrugged, gently pushing his dominant back by his chest and hopping off the counter. “S’ok,” he said without confidence. “I’m going to check on some things,” he announced, making it clear he didn’t want to be followed just yet.

“Everything alright?” Zayn asked, brainstorming on how he would get the kettle _off_ the stove when it started screaming. He began to open whatever drawers he could find to locate a hot pad, because surely even humans couldn’t handle _burning_ silver.

Harry hummed and kept his gaze toward the hall that Louis had sulked his way down, answering Zayn’s question for everyone under his breath. “How could it be?”

 

~~~

 

After feeling sorry for himself and his parents, Louis reluctantly left their empty room and made a stop by his old one. He hadn’t been inside his old room for a while, and he was pleased to find everything was exactly how he’d left it.

The posters were still on the walls, books were still in the shelves, and even the bed was still messy. Louis’ parents knew how much he liked consistency, so they never touched anything in the room, and Louis can easily appreciate the fact that they’d stayed true to that, even after he’d left home.

What he can’t appreciate was the very foreign smell that was floating through the air. It was human, but it wasn’t the Tomlinsons, and that could really only mean one thing, but why was it here and nowhere else? He closed his eyes and sniffed around until he got the origin, following it straight to his bed and sitting himself down.

As soon as he sat down, his hand landed on a piece of paper that was poking out from underneath his pillow, and he furrowed his eyebrows while he pulled it out. He knew this was the smelly thing at once, and he flicked on his lamp to read the scrawl in the light, even though his eyes didn’t need it.

Once the words were interpreted, he read them over and over again, just to make sure he wasn’t suddenly dyslexic, or brain damaged in any way. He couldn’t believe his eyes. The tea kettle in the kitchen was getting painful to listen to as its tone got increasingly higher and more shrill, and it pretty accurately depicted Louis’ current state of mind.

The words struck nerves like a bolt of lightning, tearing through his defenses and threatening to wake Nikita up and commit wanton destruction, but Louis couldn’t react. He couldn’t because Harry and Zayn couldn’t know. They couldn’t know about this, because they would do anything stop him, he wasn’t going to let that happen.

He folded the note and shoved it in his pocket, finally registering Zayn yelling for him because the idiot couldn’t figure out how to turn the stove off. He plastered a smile on his face and walked down the hall to help, but the scrawled words were still there. Every step he took deeper pronounced the malicious presence of the little note, daring him to keep his cool while he lost his mind.

  


_If you want the Tomlinsons alive, come and take their place._

_Come alone._

_5687 Worthshire Rd._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhh shit.


	15. Settled Scores

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late, I was super busy today.

Louis kept all of his emotions hidden from his superiors for the rest of the night, only letting them see the sadness. If he let them see the anger, their sympathy would turn into suspicion, and he didn’t need that. Not when he had shit to do.

Both Zayn and Harry had doted on him nonstop after they’d finished their tea and went back to the pack mansion, but the excitement was starting to weigh down on everyone, and it wasn’t long after getting in bed that eyelids were drooping. Louis waited patiently until he was absolutely positive that everyone was asleep, and then he made his move.

First he needed to go to the bathroom, so he untangled his mates’ arms from their haphazardly flung locations over his body, and shimmied out of the comforter.

“Louis?” Harry croaked, cracking an eye open while Zayn yawned himself half-awake.

“Just going to the bathroom,” Louis whispered, kissing both of his dazed mates on their lips and tiptoeing to the bathroom to play the waiting game. The mates grunted their approval to the empty air and cuddled up to each other to cancel out the loss of Louis’ warmth, both en route to falling back asleep in no time.

Louis sat on the closed toilet seat for about twenty minutes until the superiors’ deep slumber snores sounded across the room. Louis sent a thank you to whomever controlled the universe, and changed into the clothes he’d prepared beforehand, lastly shoving his fuzzy-socked feet in his shoes. He then silently opened the door and made his way around the room like a spy, expertly maneuvering through the messy floor and even retrieving his guns from the safe without a _peep_ of noise.

Once his bag was packed, and his phone was in his pocket, Louis was ready to go. There was a part of him that was shaking him by the shoulders and calling him an idiot for leaving his masters behind, but he couldn’t endanger them anymore than he already had. It wasn’t that they were weak, Louis knew that, but he didn’t need them making any unnecessary sacrifices just for him. Wouldn’t tolerate it, actually.

He spared a few lingering glances on their sleeping forms and gently laid his softest sweater in-between their bodies so his scent would never disappear.

When he could waste no more time, he snuck out of room 428 and spent a full thirty seconds closing the door so there was no way a sound would be heard. If he’s going to these strenuous lengths to be sneaky, he’s not going to let a mere door shutting deter him from his goal.

He hurried out of the mansion, perfectly evading the few people that were still awake and roaming around. Once outside, he let his feet fly to get as much distance between the pack house and himself as he could. He opened his phone to the google maps address he’d saved and started it, using the walking settings so he wouldn’t get lost.

The location proved to be about an hour away from where he was now, but with Louis’ energy levels that relieved him from the necessity to take breaks, he reckons he could get there in half. He tried not to think too hard about what it was he was doing, and tore through back roads like they were a 100-metre-dash.

 

~~~

 

Harry was in the middle of an average dream when his wolf walked into the scene and approached him with a worried look on its face.

“Hey, Seri,” Harry greeted, cocking his head to the side in interest and meeting the animal in the middle. “What are you doing here?”

“Harry,” it spoke into his mind, bowing its head respectively and immediately diving into the problem. “Harry, you need to wake up.”

“What? Why?” Harry asked, looking around at his dream and noticing all the scenery had faded away to leave a never-ending colour of white behind. “Where are we?”

“Human, your Ashen is gone,” Seri growled, butting his head into Harry’s stomach to get his attention.

“What!” Harry demanded, crouching down to level with his animal. “This is real, isn’t it? Is Nikita really gone?”

“You must wake up, Harry! You have to go now, take Amaruk with you. The distance is too great to follow the leash, you’ll have to find him yourself. I’ll be with you, my love,” Seri said, cutting the interaction short by clamping his jaws down around Harry’s wrist, shooting him awake into the dark room of the hotel.

“Fuck,” Harry breathed, desperately slapping the bed next to him and confirming that Louis wasn’t in it. “Zayn!” he shouted, pushing the wolf all the way off the bed to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible.

“Wha—?” Zayn squeaked, rubbing his head as he sat back up and peered over the bed. “What in the fuck are you—”

“Louis is gone,” Harry said, flicking the light on and dressing himself with impressive speed.

Zayn only took one look at the empty bed before springing into action, and the two wolves made enough of a racket to cause Liam and Niall to peek through their door in confusion. “What’s going on?” Liam asked, surveying the room and noting there was an obviously missing member. “Where’s Louis?”

“Fucking gone, that’s where he is,” Harry responded fretfully, checking his phone for any messages the Ashen might have sent, and ordering everyone else to do the same. Nobody had any contact from their brother, and just when Harry was about to throw the damn thing through the window, Zayn yelped in victory.

“Harry, I think I have it,” Zayn cried, rushing over and presenting the screen to his mate.

Harry stuck his face in the phone and scratched his head dubiously. “5687 Worthshire? What the fuck would he be doing all the way out there...what even _is_ that address?” he asked, looking it up on his phone before anyone else could. He waited for the page to load, and when it did, his bewilderment only grew in intensity. “St. Haunderseins? That’s that old abandoned hospital, isn’t it? Why the bloody hell would—how do you even have this on your—what’s going on?” he shouted impatiently, jumping from thought to thought like a game of hopscotch.

“Something told me I needed to log into my google on his phone last night, so I did. I obviously didn’t go here, this is his search. Look, from android. I have an IPhone,” he explained, amazed with himself that his strange hunch turned out to have such a useful result.

“But why would he—” Harry began, stopping his sentence with a loud gasp because it was actually obvious what was going on. “Organization,” he rasped, meeting Zayn’s terrified face for two silent seconds before racing out of the room together like a pair of gazelles.

“Should we follow you?” Liam called down the hallway while Niall was already dressing himself regardless of what the answer was.

“No, just stay here,” Zayn threw over his shoulder, disappearing through the door to the staircase.

Liam sighed and ran a hand through his shaggy hair, turning back to his mate and crossing his arms in disapproval. “Niall, what are you doing?”

“You’ve never listened to Zayn before, why the fuck would you start now?” the blonde snarled, stopping by the bathroom to take a leak before they would venture into the unknown.

“I can’t put you in danger,” Liam argued, losing his resolve on the matter because he wanted to help more than anything.

Niall rolled his eyes and leaned his head back on his shoulder to stare Liam down challengingly. Liam stood off the door jamb he’d been leaning on and threw his hands up in surrender. “I mean…”

Niall shoved his bits back into his boxers and hopped up and down to situate himself, ripping his fly back up and slapping Liam on the chest on his way out. “Pack your shit, we gotta do something.”

 

~~~

 

“Seri told me,” Harry mentioned once him and Zayn were speeding down the street in Dean’s particularly fast chevy impala.

“Seri did?” Zayn asked incredulously, knowing it was exceptionally rare to have such direct contact with your wolf. Lycans were entirely one with their wolves, so the fact that it would separate to talk to you was a pretty big deal.

“He came to me in a dream and told me Nikita was gone. Told me to take Amaruk with me,” the leader said as he took a glance at Zayn’s shocked profile.

“Damn, Ama. That’s a name I haven’t heard in awhile,” he mused, relaying the information that his own wolf had been mentioned in Harry’s dream with Seri. “I still find it odd that Seri knows Amaruk’s name,” he noted, increasing their speed because they didn’t have the luxury of coasting along.

“How is that odd? Our wolves know each other better than our humans do. They’re always listening,” Harry said with a shrug, redirecting the conversation on the pressing issues. “Anyway, that’s not the point. Do you think we should have told Jareth? Or, I don’t know, maybe Dean? We did kinda steal his car, you know.”

“Nah,” Zayn said easily with a shake of his head. “Liam and Niall will tell them, I know it. Plus, we don’t need anyone else in the way. I don’t think their victory would be guaranteed.”

“Zayn, ours isn’t guaranteed either,” Harry reasoned, turning to stare out the window in uncertainty.

“Yes, Harry. It is,” Zayn rebuked, frustrated with his leader for harboring such weak-minded doubts about their situation. That is dangerous thinking to be stuck in, and Zayn wasn’t going to put up with it.

“I fucking hope you’re right,” Harry muttered, deep in his worries for his baby Ashen and themselves. Not to mention their unknown likelihood and ability to actually protect him from harm.

Zayn knew Harry wasn’t convinced yet, but they didn’t have time for a pep-talk. They were going to do this against all odds, and all inconveniences, because that was their Louis in there. “I fucking am.”

 

~~~

 

Louis shoved the rusted doors of the old building open, and once he got over the putrid stench of rot, he took a few creaky steps onto the precariously sturdy floors. All was quieter than should ever be natural, but he knew the peace was nothing but an illusion. This was definitely the place.

The only sound continued to be his echoed footsteps, and they were making him nervous. The place was taken straight out of a ghost horror film, and it was the _last_ place Louis wanted to be wandering through in the dark, but he was on a mission to save his parents, so the case of creeps he had would just have to calm down.

He felt a pull dragging him downward, which probably meant he needed to go to the damn basement. He groaned and searched around in the dark with his superior eyesight to try and find some exit door—a cursed door that would lead him to the dreaded staircase necessary to descend the ridiculously enormous establishment.

Before his eyes landed on the door he was looking for, a piercing scream sounded through the hospital, raising every hair on his body and drowning his senses in panic. It was so obviously his Mother; he could clearly hear her voice behind the howl, and as much as it scared him, it was exactly what he needed to pinpoint where he was supposed to go.

He tripped and stumbled over the shit that littered the floor to reach the staircase, and he slid down the handrail the whole way down, just barely managing to stay on every time it rounded. He’d picked up considerable speed on the way down and jogged his way out of his landing, taking a look around and staring the final door down like it was personally insulting him.

He took a deep breath and sent all his love to his masters, praying that nothing bad would happen to him that would hurt them for the rest of their lives. Perhaps this was reckless, and maybe he should have let them help, but it was too late to go back now.

He pushed the door open and inhaled sharply when he stepped into the boiler room full of the Organization. Every hunter was leaning against something boredly, sharpening their weapons and smirking at him. He didn’t count them, but there must have been at least fifty, and Louis didn’t know why they weren’t attacking, but somehow this was worse.

He took a careful step further to judge their reaction, but none of them moved. Louis was finding it hard to believe that he could just waltz through the room without an assault from even one of these hunters who only exist to kill him, but his mind made itself up when a blatant cry of pain from Norman beat off the walls.

Louis squinted his eyes and walked forward, keeping his gaze on whatever hunter was closest and ignoring his wolf’s command to destroy them. No time for that.

He crossed the whole room without a squeak of sound or a twitch of offensive movement from the large group of his worst enemies, and he found himself in front of the last door he knew he would have to open. The only thing that made him kick it open was the thought of his parents on the other side, and he got what he asked for.

He jumped into a brightly lit room and squeezed his eyes closed, holding a hand to deflect the light like it was the sun.

“Louis, no!” Johannah wailed, giving him the determination to blink his way into tolerating the blinding fluorescent hues. He discovered the room was illuminated by a bunch of floor lights that surely belonged in front of a billboard instead of an enclosed room, but when his eyes finally landed on his parents, and he couldn’t care about the mere discomfort anymore.

Both Norman and Johannah were stuck against the opposite wall, arms raised above their heads by chains that were thrown over the water pipes above them, preventing them from lowering or doing much of anything with their hands. Norman’s shirt was torn open and his chest was bloody, and Johannah’s face had two gashes on it, forever marking her cheeks with the memory of this nightmare.

Louis’ traveled further down and noticed she also had a deep wound on her thigh, and Louis instantly knew that his Father’s left ankle was broken. His anger welled inside him, but their attackers slowly stepped into the light of the power lamps from the shadows, where they’d been holding back their evil laughter, and now Louis had to address them.

“Nikita Koshkov Ashen, son of Dmitri Anatoly Ashen and Anastasia Yuri Ashen. My, how you’ve grown,” the presumed leader purred, standing way too close to Louis’ parents because he knew it was just about his only insurance. “The last time I saw you, you were a simple baby, being carried away in this traitor’s arms,” he spat while he fisted Johannah’s hair and lifted her head up to keep her face in view.

“Don’t touch her,” Louis growled, taking a step forward but freezing when the seven hunters in the room all cocked their guns and pointed them straight at him.

“I wouldn’t,” the hunter sneered, holding a knife to his Mother’s throat. “Don’t forget your situation, it’s not good.”

“What’s your name?” Louis demanded, killing time to formulate a plan in his head. “I deserve to know the name of my opponent.”

The leader gave a devilish smile and shrugged his shoulders, removing the knife and pushing his ponytail to his other shoulder. “Yaroslav,” he said simply, showcasing a dimple on his admittedly attractive face.

“What an ugly name,” Louis chuckled, regretting it when Yuroslav slapped the knife back onto Johannah’s throat.

“You think I won’t, or something?”

“Nah, you already won,” Louis said disinterestedly, holding out for the advantage he figured he might be able to have. He detected Zayn and Harry’s scent about a mile away, and though he was disappointed they hadn’t stayed put, not to mention confused how they found him in the first place, he’d never been happier to have their comforting hormones filter into his nose.

Since nobody here had a wolf’s nose, they wouldn’t know Louis’ masters had arrived until they were right in front of them. Also, now that Harry was closer, Louis could feel the tangibility of his leash getting stronger, and there was something he needed to try when the time was right.

“I did,” Yaro replied, smiling victoriously and not even suspecting there was a chance he wouldn’t actually come out of this alive. His mistake.

“Where do you want me?” Louis asked, painting the picture of accepted surrender and holding his hands up willingly.

Johannah and Norman were shrieking for him to turn around and save himself, and he wanted to tell them not to worry, but he couldn’t even chance a reassuring glance or Yaro might begin to suspect Louis had a trick up his sleeve. Humans were predictably self-centered and overconfident, so fooling them was entirely too easy.

His arms were immediately gripped by two Russian hunters that dragged him to a metal operating table and slammed him down on the surface. Admittedly, torture was not something Louis had necessarily foreseen, but he still wasn’t worried yet.

They had just finished tying his legs down when Yaro stalked over to jeer in his face. “You know, I’m glad you did, but you really are so stupid for coming alone,” he sniggered, backing up to give his hunters room to get his hands down.

Louis cackled and reached his last free hand up to grip the leash, giving everyone else a heart attack because it meant the superior was close. “I’m never alone,” he said mysteriously, giving the leash a tug with every ounce of strength he could muster, willing his Harry to suddenly appear on the other end, thought he wasn’t sure if their magic worked like that. “ _Come here_!”

 

~~~

 

Harry choked as reality around him began morphing to resemble a hyperdrive from Star Wars. “What the—” he cried, shooting through this alternate dimension and flying through the rift.

“Harry!” Zayn shouted as his brother was seemingly dematerialized out of thin air. He knew Louis probably had something to do with it, so he grabbed the phone off the passenger seat that got left behind and made sure he was still going in the right direction, tossing it back down when he looked up and saw the looming presence of the old hospital.

He parked the car a safe distance away and even left the door open to prevent any audible indication that someone had arrived, even if human ears were wildly inferior to his own. _Here goes nothing,_ he thought with a mental sigh, taking large and quiet steps through the overgrown grass to reach the place he least wanted to go.

 

~~~

 

Everything went back to normal for Harry, and he was astonished to find himself in an unfamiliar room, staring at shocked faces and zeroing in on Louis’ parents.

“Ha! Harry!” Louis cried merrily, only sharing one moment of relieved eye contact with each other before Yaro called the order to attack. Harry got his senses in order and acted at once, slashing through Louis’ binds with his claws and pulling him into his arms. He flipped the table on its side and prepared for the second firefight in one week. They’d been busy…

This time was so much more perilous because their level of cover was notably less advantageous than the bar tussle, but as long as Harry was alive, no harm would ever come to his Louis. He immediately cocked his glock and fired at some of the lamps, engulfing the room in more of the darkness that they thrived in.

Yaro shouted in Russian for his subordinates to keep firing, and for the outside group to stay put because this was "his job." Words in a language that Louis heard and understood because…well, he still can’t answer that…

Several things happened in quick succession after that.

Harry shot a good number of hands to make the hunters useless, the Organization turned on a bunch of extra lights to light the place back up, having foreseen that action, and Yaro shanked Norman and Johannah with knives in their torsos to solidify his last upper-hand.

Louis’ breath was stolen when he heard his parents’ cries of agony, and he roared louder than he ever had in his life. He was about to jump over the table to enact his revenge, but bullets flew toward them and Harry yanked him back down, hanging onto him so he couldn’t flee. “Let me go, Harry,” he snarled, fighting against the confinement.

“Literally fuck that,” Harry bit back, tightening his arms and praying for a damn miracle. Louis’ parents were now severely injured, which meant they were running out of time, and if they got hit with just _one_ of these nasty bullets, they were done for. Louis could easily tear this whole place apart as a wolf, but turning would make him a giant and unmissable target. All of that left the list of options they had thinner than a needle, but there had to be a way—there was _always_ a way.

Harry’s thoughts ran off their tracks when Yaro menacingly rounded the table, standing above them like a self-proclaimed god and gripping his bloodied shoulder. Well, at least some of their bullets had struck the Organization leader. Harry was panicking because he still wasn’t done with his reloading, and Louis was apparently still too fixated on his parents to notice Yaro raising his at them.

Louis actually was paying attention, but he was choosing to focus his mind on Zayn instead, willing him to appear _regardless_ of the lack of binding magic that he shared with Harry. Zayn was still his bondmate, they were still a trio, and if Louis couldn’t bring him forth, then just what is the point?

“Zayn, come to me. Now,” he uttered under his breath, running right into the wolf in their mental room and pulling the dominant back out with him.

“Any last words, Harry?” the leader taunted, licking blood from his lip and grinning like a madman. “I think I’ll kill you first to—”

A sudden rush of wind and a deafening bang cut off his evil words, and Yaro dropped his gun with a screech when he registered the bullet hole in his wrist. He didn’t even know where it came from, but all eyes shot to their side, and Harry could have sobbed with relief.

“ _Zayn_ ,” Harry called out in fierce love, taking a second to admire their mate, standing tall and confident with a smoking gun at the end of his outstretched arm. The gust of wind that was created from his materialization was still whipping his hair around his face, undone and natural from just waking up, and the powerful glare he was skewering Yaro with would make _anyone_ fall in love. Harry swears this all happened in slow motion, but however long it really was, he’ll never forget one single detail.

As soon as the shock passed, Zayn was at the doors and slamming them closed before Yaro could finish ordering his extra men outside to come to his aide, which he just assumed was the command; given the context clues of the situation. There was little to nothing to keep the doors locked, but Harry joined him to hold it with their weight, feeling a lot better now that the hunters inside had almost run out of bullets.

 

~~~

 

The outside group froze when the doors shut, quickly shaking back out of their momentary pause and advancing to try breaking through the doors with their shoulders. They only managed to run into them three times before they heard a loud whistle and felt the sensation of wind behind them, and they all turned in fearful shock.

There on the other side of the dimly lit room stood a large amount of what they recognized as Atsila, in all their glory. A glowy and shimmering woman stood at the side of the Alpha Jareth, leaning her crossed arms on his shoulder and twirling a lock of his blonde hair in her sharply nailed fingers. The Mage.

“I would forget the doors and focus on us if I were you,” the Mage taunted, obviously the creator of the teleportation.

“Fucking wolves,” an American hunter spat, cocking his gun and pointing it at the Alpha with a shaking arm.

The Mage cackled and hid her face in her Alpha’s shoulder, while Jareth himself was smirking at them daringly. The woman slowly stretched her arm out toward the hunters, just to be easily seen, and gave the hunters a devilish wink.

Before they could react, the mage gave a single snap of her fingers, and every wolf in the room completely disappeared; making it appear as though they’d fled, but the hunters couldn’t count on that. Sure enough, when one of their members went flying, they knew the truth.

Not only was Atsila now invisible, but every visible person left was absolutely fucked.

 

~~~

 

Harry and Zayn backed off the doors when they heard screams of pain and death filtering in through the outside room, looking at each other in confusion. “Did you call Jareth?” Harry asked.

“Musta been Niall and Liam,” Zayn guessed, redirecting his focus into finishing off the remaining panicked hunters to make it easier for their Ashen to defeat his opponent without distractions.

Louis was currently walking Yaro into a corner, expertly dodging every point-blank range shot that the leader desperately made, and ultimately slapping the gun out of his hands entirely.

“How could you think you could take me down?” the Ashen demanded haughtily, grabbing the hunter by the neck and lifting him off the ground, slamming him against the back wall and holding him there. “Yes, in your prime you took down my clan. My presumptuous and unsuspecting clan in their underground territory, who had practically been asking to get attacked with all of their misplaced vanity. Good fucking job. You had one last member to take down, and you thought it would be easier, not to mention your ‘destiny,' simply because you’d already taken out the rest of them. So I would be ‘no big deal,' is that right? I would be easy? You would barely have to try?” he growled, extending his claws and poking them through the hunter’s skin.

“Damn you,” Yaro rasped, both hands at Louis’ wrist, trying to punch and push his arm away to no avail.

“I just wanted you to know…that not all of my clan were senseless murderers. In fact, my very parents whom you killed were two perfect examples of this. You’ve overlooked the notion of taking down dangerous criminals like you should have done, and you’ve turned it into slaughtering and committing genocide on my entire species, becoming no better than the enemies you sought to defeat. But you’ll never catch us all.”

Louis noticed Yaro was turning a bit blue, so he knew he had to speed this up before the fucker prematurely died on him. Zayn and Harry put their arms around each other’s shoulders and watched in pride as their Ashen enacted his well-deserved vengeance on the Organization, stealing nervous glances at the paling Norman and Johannah.

“Killing you won’t put a stop to all the hunters. Someone else is just going to take your place—but it _won’t be you_. I have a personal grudge against you, nobody else is worth my time. Let them come in the future, I’ll be waiting to defend myself. Not attack for no reason like you animals. More barbarian than any of us are...I thought I might turn you just to see you cry your heart out, but I don’t want you on this planet anymore, so I’ll just fucking kill you instead. Any last shameful words?” he asked, releasing the grip of his hand just enough to allow the hunter to speak.

“The Tomlinsons are still going to die,” he spat, twitching his face into a menacing grin.

“Oh, Yaro, Yaro, Yaro,” Louis said patronizingly, dropping his canines down to remind the hunter of what he could do. “I’m an Ashen. Give it up, you have no upper-hand left. _Umeret'_ ,” he said as he tightened his first enough to break his neck before he died of oxygen deprivation. That turned out to be exactly what happened, and he dropped the hunter in disgust once it was dead.

“What was that last thing you said?” Harry asked quietly, not sure if talking to Louis was wise at the moment.

“I told him to die,” Louis responded, remembering his surroundings and rushing to his weakened parents. “Shit, Mom. Mom!” he called, turning back to his mates for help. “Get them down!”

Harry and Zayn slashed through the chains holding them up and carefully lowered them onto the ground while Louis frantically paced back and forth. “What do I do? I don’t want to lose them,” he whined, dropping to his knees and sitting in-between them.

“I’m sorry, Lou,” Harry said genuinely, sharing a wary look with Zayn because they both knew what Louis would want to do.

“You can’t turn them, Louis. It’s the most important rule we have,” Zayn tried to say convincingly.

Louis wasn’t convinced.

Without another word, he rammed his teeth into Johannah’s neck, slashing his own wrist and holding it to the wound, making sure to actually get his blood in because he _refused_ to do it with their mouths. While that was underway, he leaned over and bit Norman’s shoulder, tearing into his other wrist and holding that one against the injury.

Jareth took that time to bust in the room once the last hunter dropped dead, and he gasped at the crime being committed. “What the _fuck_ , Louis—”

“Just don’t,” Harry sighed, standing up and getting between the entering Atsila and the Tomlinsons. “Don’t tell him not to do this, and don’t touch them. Not only will he not listen to you—but we accept his decision, and we’ll fight for it if we have to.”

“So will we,” Liam said passionately, jogging over with Niall to join their brother in protest.

“Hey guys,” Harry greeted, nuzzling Liam’s cheek because he was in range.

“ _Aisch_ , calm down, Harry. All of you. This is pretty fucking problematic, but it’s not something I will condemn…just be aware that I can’t say the same for the high council,” he warned, stepping over the wreckage to reach the trio with Dean and Kira tiptoeing behind him. “I’m so glad you all are safe,” he wailed, crushing Harry in a hug that Niall and Liam threw themselves into as well. “I was so worried about you.”

“About me? When we had Louis?” Harry chuckled, pulling away from the group embrace before bones broke.

“No, he’s right,” Louis chimed, stealing everyone’s attention, “Well, he is. I put you all in danger, and I almost got my second parents killed. I can’t ever ask for your forgiveness, Jareth—” Louis began, pausing when the Alpha held up a hand.

“Thanks to Niall and Liam remembering the exact address, and thanks to Kira’s magic, we were able to get here just in time. And with her shroud of invisibility, we were never in any real danger. Besides, even if we were, we would have fought with you anyway, but I’m telling you we weren’t. Not everyone can fit in this room, the rest of Atsila are waiting outside, but I need you to know they would all say the exact same thing,” he said kindly, sharing a moment with the Ashen and looking into each other’s eyes.

“Fuck,” Louis suddenly shrieked when he felt his parents’ hearts stop. “No, no, what did I do wrong, they’re not brea—”

“Louis,” Harry said, pulling him up and away from his parents by his leash, fishing him into his arms. “Louis, the same thing happened to you,” he reminded. “It happens to all of us. Trust me, they’re gonna be fine. It worked, I can smell it.”

“So can I,” Jareth agreed, pulling up an undamaged chair and taking a seat while Kira jumped into his lap. “And now we wait.”

Zayn and Harry walked Louis to a table they flipped on its legs and set him down, cuddling into him from both sides and kissing him whenever it felt like the right moment. Niall and Liam took a quiet spot to the side to let the trio have their intimacy to themselves, but Louis made sure to give them both a thankful smile.

“Hey, Jareth?” the Ashen asked, receiving a curious hum in response. “What happens with the Organization now that their leader is dead? What’s to become of them?”

“Well…I suspect they’ll run around like chickens with their heads cut off for about a day, and then they’ll elect someone else. They’re not a devoted monarchy, they’re an ideal—one that can’t ever truly be squandered. They’ll be back eventually. As long as there are lycans, there will be hunters to eliminate them.”

“Yeah, no thanks to my clan,” Louis said despairingly, feeling the full weight of guilt for things that his people did way before he was born.

“Do you honestly think we _never_ would have been discovered by humans if your clan hadn’t made it so apparent initially? We all like to throw blame because they made it happen first, but lycans as a whole are lying to themselves if they think that without that, we’d still be a completely hidden species,” Jareth promised, lifting Louis’ spirits up into the heavens.

Some growling sounded from Louis’ parents and the little wolf leaped off the table, dragging Harry and Zayn with him because he didn’t think he could handle it alone. Jareth additionally inched forward with Kira at his side and peered over the table to regard the waking wolves with interest and most likely sympathy for getting stuck with their inconveniences. Needless to say Niall and Liam also jumped out of their seats like two kernels of popcorn to witness the rebirth that never got old, no matter how many times you saw it.

Safe in his mates’ arms, Louis took deep breaths and prepared himself for the inevitable questioning he’d get from his parents who had no say in the matter of switching species.

His wonderful parents both blinked their eyes open and gazed in awe at their new surroundings until Johannah turned her head to the side and stared at her guilt-ridden son, smiling as wide as she could to calm his worries. “Don’t worry, baby. I already forgive you.”

“I’m still sorry,” the Ashen sobbed, predominantly just glad that they weren’t on the brink of death anymore.

“What _for_?” Norman breathed in fascination, holding his hand up to the ceiling and turning it every which way as he studied his new senses.

“You were dying, and I couldn’t—”

“Louis,” Johannah pleasantly scolded, preferring to save this conversation for the more tranquil aftermath of this experience. “Can we get out of here?”

“I’ll take you back to the mansion,” Jareth offered, walking over to help them off the ground. There was a bit of stumbling, but once they were on their feet, Johannah and Norman both assumed flying was next. Everything about them felt incredible and full of power, and whatever setbacks came with this was honestly a fair trade.

“It can be your home, you know,” Kira urged, not liking the idea of Atsila-linked wolves living alone in a human house.

“Yeah, come live with us,” Niall said sweetly, blushing when the new wolves trained their eyes on him.

“Well—”

“No, Dad. Sell the house. You two are living in the mansion with me, and that’s final. Did you really expect me to let you live alone again? After _this_?” he emphasized, gesturing to the mess around them.

Johannah looked at the room and gave a short laugh in agreement. “Alright…take us home, then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that's not how google works on other people's phones. but... I just don't care haha.


	16. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhh, yay. Thanks to those who have enjoyed. I had fun, hope you did.

It took about two weeks for the battle with the hunters to stop being the immediate topic of conversation, but once it did, it was easy to forget all about it. Johannah and Norman had only been a little internally uncomfortable with their new existences, but they knew that their Louis hadn’t felt there was any other way. They would never berate their son for saving their lives in the only way the lycan knew how.

Without Louis and Nikita, the Tomlinsons would be long dead now, and they knew that well. Just because they didn’t have the same life as before, did not mean that the life they shared in the mansion now was anything less than a gifted miracle.

Before they knew it, their first full moon had reared its head and truly changed everything about them. It had been painful, yes, perhaps even a bit terrifying—but more incredible than any words could ever truly give you the right idea about how it really felt. They could write every single minuscule detail down on paper, but their human selves would never have been able to conclude an accurate imagination of the experience from the report.

They admittedly had a measurable amount of signature Ashen agitation in their hearts, and it had been hard at first to verbally abuse the Omega Max because of it, but once they saw how much the lycan accepted it, they didn’t hold back.

They’d been butted out of the nightly activities by their son on their first turning, and spent the nights with Jareth, Dean, Mick, Anne, and Kira instead. Something about a cave that shouldn’t ever witnessed by anyone other than the ones that belonged in it. Of course, Johannah knew that meant there were sexual acts transpiring, so she paid getting ditched no mind whatsoever. And not to get too into detail…but sex with her husband was earth-shattering. Different and completely out of this world—but wonderful.

They'd quit their day-time jobs and decided to work within the pack house instead, doing room-keeping duties and whatever else needed done by anyone who would pay them. They would get out into the workforce at some point if they even could, but now wasn’t a good time. They had to learn how to completely suppress their anger, but Louis was a master at it now, so their hopes were high.

Plus, tonight was their second full moon, so it really wasn’t any time to be pondering any of this, but Johannah’s mind was a perpetually worrisome place.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about, Jojo?” Anne asked, leaning away from Mick to be heard over the males’ thundering banter.

Johannah didn’t realize it, but she’d probably been zoning out for a good five minutes now. She was sitting in the lounge with Norman, Harry’s parents, and the Alpha with his mate and Beta. Those were what most Sundays looked like these days—relaxing on couches with the adults and talking shit about their children. In the nicest ways possible, of course.

“Just relaying the events in my life that led me to where I am now,” she laughed in good spirits.

“You already know what it was, though,” Anne said, not noticing the men had quieted down to listen in on their conversation.

“What’s that?” Johannah asked, cocking her head to the side at Anne’s unwavering confidence.

Anne just smiled and sipped her tea, rolling her eyes and setting it back on the table, taking her sister’s hand instead. “Love,” she said simply, sharing sappy eye contact with the Ashen’s Mother.

“It was, wasn’t it?” Johannah sniffed, huffing when Norman cooed and pulled her into his arms.

“We just couldn’t leave Louis, he was too cute as a baby. Dunno what happened to him now, but-” Norman joked, shying away from Johannah’s suspiciously jerking elbow near his ribs.

“You have an incredible son, Johannah and Norman. Without him, my Harry wouldn’t be alive today. I will always have that non-repayable debt to him,” Mick professed, quickly realizing he maybe shouldn’t have from the eager expressions the Tomlinsons were shooting him with.

“What happened with Harry? What do you mean?” Norman asked curiously, causing a short cackle to fall out of Jareth’s mouth, the hand covering it doing absolutely nothing to hide his reaction.

“Ah…well…we were training in the garage together, and there was this one time…”

 

~~~

 

\---

 

“Christ, my Mom just screamed over text at me for nearly ripping your heart out,” Louis said in surprise, making a note to slap whomever had told his Mother about that day, because they had damned him to a life of scolding.

“That’s a pointless thing to fuss over—” Harry agreed, sneaking a hand around and snatching the phone out of the Ashen’s hands, holding it high above his head and enjoying the small lycan try and jump for it. “—because you ripped my heart out the first day I saw you.”

“Oh, is _that_ how you got these scars?” Louis mused, running his index finger down the biggest one.

“I think they look kinda cool,” Harry said proudly, removing Louis’ hand to intertwine their fingers, still holding the lycan’s phone out of reach.

“Well, I think you’re fucking stupid,” Louis teased, disconnecting their hands and wrapping his arms around his master’s neck, pressed their bodies close together and batting his eyelashes at him while he gave him a sultry smile.

“Oh what, you think putting on a cute face will make me forget you just insulted me so rudely? You think it’ll make me return your phone to you? Do you even know me?” Harry challenged behind a smile.

Louis cocked his head to the side like he didn’t understand what Harry meant, and set on deflecting the topic because he excels at it. “You’re so big and strong, Harry. Protect me so well,” he praised as he dove in to lock their lips together.

Harry moaned into his mouth and wrapped one arm around the submissive’s lower back, smirking when he realized he’d been played so easily with a few compliments. “You know, that’s how I know you’re bullshitting. Because you’re the one that does the protecting.”

“Worth a shot,” Louis said with a shrug, not even trying to catch the phone when Harry threw it to the bed. He hadn’t actually cared about it the whole time, Harry was just too much fun to fuck with.

“Are you guys coming in, or not? I don’t care how scalding hot this water is, it’s fucking frigid in here without you,” Zayn called impatiently, his voice echoing around the shower walls as it traveled into the main room.

Harry laughed and heaved Louis up into his arms, carrying him to the shower like a bride and undressing him like one as well. Once all clothes had been done away with, the pair hopped into the shower to attack their other love with hugs and kisses, damn near causing the whole trio to end up a jumbled pile of limbs on the floor from the dangerously soapy condition of it.

It didn’t take long for the gentle caresses to wash each other to become so much more than the simple act, and when deemed themselves clean enough, they hastily dried themselves and flew onto the bed together.

“How do you want us, Lou?” Zayn murmured, face buried in the Ashen’s neck, biting and licking all that he could reach.

“How do I want you?” Louis asked breathily, rolling over onto his stomach and sticking his hips straight up in the air to present to his mates. “Inside of me.”

Harry chuckled darkly and slid underneath him, connecting their lips in blindly heated passion. Zayn took the back willingly and reached over for the lube, squirting it onto his fingers and massaging the submissive’s hole so it would open up for him.

Louis growled into Harry’s mouth when Zayn’s fingers pushed inside, and Harry growled right back, biting the Ashen’s lip and groaning in pleasure.

“Harry,” Zayn scolded, trying again when his mate completely ignored him, “H-Harry! Would you stop rutting? It’s hard enough to keep things steady back here without adding your eager hips into the mix.

Harry scoffed and pulled Louis further down on top of him to glare at Zayn over the Ashen’s shoulder. “Would you hurry up, please? I can’t take it anymore,” he whined, slapping Zayn’s arm away from Louis so he could get his cock inside of him already.

Zayn rolled his eyes and pulled Louis up into a sitting position, holding him as still as he could manage while Harry maneuvered his cock to push inside the tight hole that he would worship until the day he died. He lifted his neck to look down and marvel at the inches of his cock getting swallowed by Louis’ body. He knew the grip he had on the Ashen’s hips was probably extremely painful, which is why he didn’t let up.

Louis’ moans were a bit on the loud side, especially when Harry was fully inside, and Zayn was at his neck doing wonderful things with his lips. Louis was the luckiest lycan alive. For all of his misfortunes, to have two mates like this overshadowed every hardship he’d ever endured.

Harry couldn’t take the distance anymore, and he pulled Louis down by his face to lick into his mouth with fervor. The lack of oxygen became a problem, so he kissed down the side of Louis’ jaw to his neck instead, tightening his arms around the trembling back while Zayn was busy stroking himself in preparation, content to just gaze at the scene before him until he was needed.

“I love you so much, Louis,” Harry whispered into the Ashen’s ear, quickening the pace of his thrusts to really get the submissive going.

“I love you so much more,” Louis declared, ignoring the laughs of disagreement from both superiors. “You too, Zayn. Come here, my love, you belong here too. With me, in me, whatever you want, come on,” he said, reaching back to pull Zayn in by his side.

“I wouldn’t dream of leaving you unfulfilled,” Zayn chuckled, taking time to enter his mate with Harry, not out of fear of Louis’ potential pain, but because he wanted to savor the moment as much as he could. The slowness pulled some desperate whines from the Ashen, but Zayn couldn’t speed it up—not until he had committed every second to memory, even if they would get to do this for the rest of their lives until they physically couldn’t anymore. Every mating they had was worth a lifetime to him, and Harry too, so the Ashen could just shut up and wait.

“Fucking _please_ ,” Louis cried, finally coming once Zayn was all the way inside of him.

“Oh wow, you’re really excited, Niki,” Harry praised, swiping the Ashen’s come off his chest and licking it from his fingers.

Louis groaned at the sight of his mate enjoying his release to such a degree, but his energy instantly dissipated from the strength of his orgasm, and he flattened himself down on top of Harry, wailing in ecstasy when both superiors went at it at full speed.

“You like that?” Zayn chuckled into Louis’ ear, laughing when the Ashen’s screeching evolved into an "uh-huh" of the same volume. The dominant went to sit up after leaning over for so long, but Louis instantly yanked him down by the back of his head, apparently in protest of losing skin contact. Zayn smiled into the neck he was pressed into and buried his teeth in it, deciding that if this was where his mate wanted him to stay, then by god, he will stay.

Harry was lost to the maddening bliss that their mating was notorious for, and he felt his orgasm begin its gradual journey, communicating with Zayn that they were both on the same page. “You’re everything to us, Lou,” he said emotionally, blinking away unexpected tears when Louis smashed their lips together. Even after two months, the knowledge that they could have potentially lost Louis was still a heavy weight on Harry’s heart—and he vowed he would never ever let anything threaten his love again.

Zayn grinned and dove in, including himself in their kiss and impressively managing to snog both of them at once.

Louis yipped and squeaked as their knots were growing, and the superiors held him down as best they could to constrict his movements. Louis liked squirming for the sole purpose of somebody stopping him, and his lycans were well aware of this. They tightly held him down, and Zayn took both of the Ashen’s arms to cross them behind his back, while Harry made sure that his hips and thighs couldn’t even twitch.

The trio stayed in this glorious position until their knots finally popped and awarded Louis with the wet warmth of their release in his body. The Ashen shuddered in-between his mates as he came again, trying for dear life to hold onto reality, but falling under anyway.

“Aww, look at him,” Zayn cooed, nuzzling Louis’ cheek with his nose and helping Harry roll them all over.

“I know, he gets too excited. Knocks himself out,” Harry agreed, checking the fourth alarm clock of the month for the time, and smiling when it was verified that they had a good enough amount left of it until sunset. “Cute little thing, isn’t he?” he asked while he kissed each of the sleeping Ashen’s eyelids.

“You forget how vicious he can be,” Zayn chuckled, reaching over their submissive to rub at Harry’s arm.

“Nah,” Harry argued, smirking at his fellow dominant and then gazing back down at their perfect Louis. “That’s _why_ he’s cute.”

 

\---

 

The trio ended up sleeping much later than they’d planned, and it took Niall both and Liam slapping at all of their faces to truly wake them up.

“Fuck is wrong with you?” Louis grumbled, yipping when Zayn and Harry pulled out of him simultaneously.

“Sorry, Lou,” Zayn sympathized, rushing to get his clothes on because they had to leave soon, or the moon would start to really stress them out.

Harry and Louis spent more time lazing in their cuddle, basking in each other’s presence, but Harry knew they needed to get ready so he pulled a reluctant Louis up with him. “Just five more minutes,” the Ashen whined, standing in the middle of the room with his superior’s arms holding him up.

Harry couldn’t help how hard he got just from being pressed against his mate, and the Ashen was delighted at the change of circumstance. “You can give me five more minutes...can’t you, Harry?” he purred seductively, slinking down his master’s body to get on his knees in front of his phenomenal cock.

“Louis, we really shouldn’t—” Harry cut off with a choked moan, never tiring of the sensation that comes with having one’s cock engulfed in warm and slick places. “ _Fuck_ ,” he growled, fisting Louis’ hair and letting him do whatever he damn well pleased.

“Oh, great,” Zayn said disapprovingly. “Just when we need to hurry things up, you decide to—”

Zayn couldn’t finish his sentence because another tragedy chose that moment to strike.

Harry looked straight up from the intrusion into their room, and he was now staring back into the appalled faces of Johannah and Anne, who had opened their door to tell them they should head to the forest soon.

Reasonably startled, Harry quickly shoved his cock all the way into the back of Louis’ throat to hide every inch of it in embarrassment, earning an offended squeaky choke in protest.

“JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, HARRY! EVERY FUCKING TIME!” Anne screeched, reaching forward and slamming the door closed, trying to comfort the petrified Mother of the Ashen.

“I can’t believe I just saw that,” Johannah said with wide eyes and a shaky voice, trying her best to burn the image out of her head.

Anne cackled in spite of her discomfort and threw her arm around Jo’s shoulders, walking her down the hallway to go do _anything_ possible that would let them forget about what they couldn’t unsee. “Yeah…welcome to my world.”

 

~~~

 

“Fucking hell, Harry—the fuck was that for?” Louis snarled through his coughing, slapping at Harry’s thigh and wiping his lips with the back of his hand. He was undeniably ashamed that now it was his _own_ Mother who would sometimes be a victim of seeing things she didn’t want to, but Anne really should have known better by now than to just walk into this little pack’s room at any given moment.

“Sorry, I just—I panicked, I don’t know,” Harry spluttered, holding back his laughter because Zayn’s was proving to be hopelessly contagious.

“ _God_ ,” Louis sighed, crawling around for his clothes and dressing himself in a haze. “That was awful.”

“Eh, felt pretty good to me,” Harry argued, catching Louis’ wrist before his palm struck across his kneecap. “We’ll make a sign,” he suggested, gesturing to their front door.

“What’ll it say? ‘Warning: Sluts inside’?” Louis guessed, laughing at their terrible odds to have so many awkward stories like this under their belts.

“‘Warning: Live Porn’?” Zayn contributed to the thoughtful faces of his mates.

“No, I got it,” Niall said, smirking when the trio perked their ears and turned their faces to him in interest. “‘Warning: Three Ashen wolves inside—the choice is in your hands’.”

“Really though,” Harry chuckled, pulling his Louis up from his spot on the ground.

“We ready?” Liam asked, looking around him to make sure they weren’t leaving anything behind.

“More ready than I’ve ever been in my life, _please_ let’s get out of here,” Louis groaned, grabbing onto both of his master’s hands and stepping out of the room to reach the elevators.

“Shit, Seri can’t wait to knot you,” Harry purred into his ear as they were hiking through the forest toward their trusty cave.

“Seri? Who the fuck is Seri?” Louis asked in confusion, raising his eyebrows when Harry only snorted at his question.

“My wolf, you dingus. That’s his name. All wolves have names.”

“Well, Louis is kind of still a puppy, Harry. I mean, it hasn’t even been a full year yet. He still has a lot of shit to learn,” Zayn defended, kissing the indignant Louis on his cheek to be the good guy in the situation.

“ _Another_ name? Christ…well what’s mine?” the Ashen asked, like they would have an answer.

“Ask him,” Harry said encouragingly, running in front of the Ashen so he could jump on his back. “Here, just relax and go talk to him,” he suggested as he hiked Louis’ knees up higher on his sides and resumed their journey.

Without having to walk, Louis was free to look deep into his soul and meet with his wolf, who was already close to the surface due to the moon. “What’s your name?” he asked nervously, not sure if that was the right way to go about it.

“Volktala,” the wolf whispered along their conjoined spirits.

It was a bit too harsh sounding for Louis, so he politely asked if he could shorten it. “Can I call you Tala?”

“If you let me out,” was the wolf’s immediate response.

Louis chuckled through his nose and gave it a scratch between the ears. “You’re just as impatient as I am. Wait your turn,” he scolded, grinning when Tala only glared in response. Louis turned around and lifted himself back out of his soul, it’s really hard to describe, and opened his eyes to the pool beneath him.

“Oh, wow. We’re here already?” Louis asked brightly as Harry set him down. Niall and Liam were already in nothing but their boxers, sitting on the adjacent rock and tilting their faces to the sky. They’d apparently already put everything into the cave and made their way back out, and Louis had no idea he had been out for that long—just for one simple question. Maybe time bends and warps in that place, or something.

“So?” Harry encouraged, giving Louis an attentive look at the Ashen removed his clothes. “What’s the name?”

“Oh…it’s Tala,” he informed, sighing when Zayn wrapped his arms around him from behind.

“Tala, huh? I like it,” Harry approved, taking Louis’ clothes and running them to the cave, hopping back over the stones to settle down on the trio’s favourite rock.

Times like this were always quiet and peaceful in preparation for the not so peaceful transformation their bodies would endure, so the little pack were all perfectly content to sit in silence together, cuddling in their groups while they waited for the final call.

Louis smelled it first, and he interrupted Zayn and Harry’s identical lazy kisses on his shoulders to draw their focus to what he thought was going on.

Liam smelled it too, and he was the first to speak. “Is that a…”

“A first-turner?” Louis finished for him while everyone else took deep breaths of the air.

“He’s _ours_ ,” Niall announced, shrugging defensively at the unreadable expressions of the Ashen trio. “Your trifecta needs no more additions, you greedy fucks. This puppy officially belongs to Liam and I, and I will fight you for h—”

“Niall, please,” Louis giggled, snaking his arms around his lovers and giving them each a kiss. “These two animals are all I could ever want in the world,” he professed, coughing from the strangling hug he received from both sides.

“Good,” Niall snapped, only pausing for a moment before breaking out into laughter.

The pack’s amusement was cut short by the breaking of twigs at the edge of the clearing, caused by a cute, young, pale-skinned, black-haired, alternative-dressing boy; drenched in sweat and convulsing like one of those inflatable stick figure advertisement things that you’d _always_ look at if you drove by a business with one outside.

It only took one meek little whine of “Help,” for Niall and Liam to launch off their rocks and sprint to him and catch him as he fell.

“Well this is familiar,” Louis sighed, slowly shaking his head at the full circle his life had just made up to this moment.

“Wasn’t that long ago that we helped you out like that,” Zayn recalled, nuzzling his mate’s neck and inhaling the scent of his mark that he’d made on Louis’ second day.

“You were everything I wanted, wrapped up in one perfect body,” Harry pledged, poking at Louis’ body to make his point. “You grew to be and always will be my entire future. We’re gonna give you the best life you could imagine, Lou. Anything you ever want, and it’s yours—just like we are,” he said lovingly, gazing into Louis’ blue eyes and overflowing with pride because he knew his own specks of the same blue were being reflected.

“I know,” Louis said with a smirk, overcome with powerful emotions he couldn’t even express, but ones his mates already understood and reciprocated with all of their hearts.

“Oh, should we go help him?” Zayn asked, pointing at the new trio as the two adult wolves were having a difficult time restraining their writhing puppy.

“I guess,” Louis said in an inconvenienced tone, standing up and stretching his back while his mates popped up next to him. He wasn’t actually annoyed that they were getting a new member, it was just really nice not to be the newbie anymore, and his snooty self was going revel in that as much as he could.

Harry and Zayn hopped across the rocks to go be helpful, but Louis found himself still on the rock, taking a few more seconds to have a moment with the moon. He ran through the events in his life that had occurred since he was in the mystery puppy’s condition, and it was hard to remember being so scared of something that was such a huge part of him.

He winked at the moon as if it might see and jumped across the rocks, muttering fondly as he strolled across the leaves. “Here we go again.”

 

~~~

 

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Anne, man. Seriously. Thanks to anyone that enjoyed it, haha. No, it's not as detailed as my last one, just cuz I never really wanted it to be that long in the first place. I have another fic (larry a/b/o) of this size coming out next, just wrapping up the epilogue, and I'll get that out in a week? This one was just fun for me, and it's a bit unconventional, but ehh. Just gettin' stuff out there.  
> wubwubnparmaham.tumblr.com iffin ya wanna chat, yeah? See yall laterssss.


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